LIONThe Voice of Lyons Township Students Since 1910

Friday, February 20, 2009 Volume 99, Issue 5

North Campus100 S. Brainard Ave. LaGrange, Ill. 60525 South Campus4900 Willow Springs Rd. Western Springs, Ill. 60558

Opinions, 8

LION Online

See Page 2 for editor’s note

A day in the life of...

Pulse, 16-17

LT grads, staff attend Inauguration

Two LION staffers debate the pros and cons of the All-school Assembly.

see page 2 for storyTHE FUTURE

Local Obama supporters rejoice in historic moment

by Tom Meyer

How Data Consortium is set to change the face of education in the LT sphere and how the power of numbers and a revolutionary data analysis tool will

soon allow the school to track students from kindergarten to graduation

When Barack Obama raised his hand and took the Oath of Office on Jan. 20, 2009 millions of Americans of all political par-ties watched with fascination as history was made. Nearly 1.8 million people braved the cold weather to witness the event live, pack-ing into the National Mall in record numbers. While the story of each person in attendance is different, at least five have strong LT con-nections.

For World History teacher Deborah Anderson, the inaugural celebration was too perfect a combination of a historical moment and the culmination of a campaign in which she had invested her time and money on Obama’s behalf to miss.

“When I got that phone call [informing me that I had received tickets] I just went crazy and I knew that now I had to go,” Anderson said. “I was so blessed to receive this wonderful opportunity.”

Anderson had heard on the news that each congressman had been given hundreds of tickets to disperse and that any interested citizens should write to their local represen-

tative or senator, which she immediately did. Just days before the Inauguration, Anderson received several calls from Rep. Dan Lip-inski’s office informing her that she’d been selected to receive two tickets, meaning that she’d be admitted to a closer viewing area.

“I wrote about being a history teacher, and my parents growing up in the South,” Anderson said. “I think that helped. I was just so lucky.”

Once in Washington, D.C., Anderson enjoyed the atmosphere and what she per-ceived as the sense of camaraderie among the millions gathered in the city. On numer-ous occasions Anderson said she was amazed by the variety of states and nationalities rep-resented in the crowd.

“I met and talked with people from Mon-tana and Tennessee and Georgia and Colo-rado and even Australia, Norway and Kenya,” Anderson said. “There were just masses of humanity on the Mall. I had never seen that many people in my life. People of every race, ethnicity, economic and social standing, all coming together for this historic event. I am so proud to see the first African American president.”

Anderson, who volunteered for Obama’s campaign with her old sorority Delta Sigma Theta and said that as an African-American she can remember times of discrimination in her grandparents’ town in Mississippi, was one of the lucky ones for whom the Inaugu-ration worked out as planned.

Not so fortunate in that regard was

Maggie Potthoff ’04 who worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Iowa. All official campaign workers were given tickets to the ceremony, including Maggie who said that she “jumped for joy” when she found out that she would receive two purple tickets. However, upon arriving to their gate on Inauguration Day, Maggie and her brother Max Potthoff ’10 were stuck in line for three to four hours and never were admitted to the ceremony.

“We felt extraordinarily disappointed,” Maggie said. “We just kept thinking, ‘well, I’ve got a ticket, I’ll get in.’ But that’s not how it worked out for us. We ended up leav-ing and looking for a TV somewhere that we could watch it on, but nowhere was open, so we just huddled around a little radio with a street vendor and listened to the speech.”

Maggie was asked by reporters several times to comment about having missed the swearing in, but declined because despite the frustration of being stuck in the so called “purple line of doom,” she said the Inaugura-tion was still an incredible memory.

Maggie had tickets to that evening’s Youth Ball where she was able to see Obama in person. Maggie said she was already

LIONThe Voice of Lyons Township Students Since 1910

Friday, November 21, 2008 Volume 99, Issue 3

North Campus100 S. Brainard Ave. LaGrange, Ill. 60525 South Campus4900 Willow Springs Rd. Western Springs, Ill. 60558

Art project overload

Editorials, 7

Lending a hand

Pulse, 14

Many LT students are actively involved in the community. A group of students

share their personal stories.

Megan Bannister

Th ree LT students explain their incidents of locker theft

by Elizabeth Pierson

HaltingTheftIn light of a perception of increased thefts at SC, LT vice principals have brain-stormed potential ways to decrease incidents of locker theft in the future. Currently, signs fl ank the locker doors warning students to be sure to “Lock Your Lockers,” but the following could be also be used at LT:

Reminders in student bulletins

Advertisements on LTTV

Reminders on plasma screens

Additional posters in gym locker rooms

Source: Assistant Principal Adam Davis

Basketball beginsNew head coach Tom Sloan leads

varsity basketball team into its season opening tournament.

Sports, 12

Last April, LT boys lacrosse played New Trier on a Saturday morning. While the game was being played outside, a thief infi ltrated the locker room. The boys returned to fi nd one locker open, and its contents missing. Troy Donovan ’10 looked in the locker he knew he locked and found his brand-new iTouch and cell phone missing. Troy and his father searched throughout the locker room and down many of the halls of the school for security personnel. They never saw one.

Recently, tales have sur-faced concerning a perceived increase in locker theft, specifi cally at SC. Though administrators have failed to confi rm that thefts are on the rise, students and parents have become increasingly vocal about incidents of theft.

“The assistant principals’ offi ce receives theft reports whenever a student alleges that a theft has occurred,” Assistant Principal Adam Davis said. “This year, thankfully, the numbers of reports are less than in previous years.”

Troy’s mother, Joanne Donovan, imme-diately cancelled Troy ’s cell service. The serial number on the iTouch was taken down and Troy and his friends continued to check for a match-ing number. The following Monday morning, Troy fi led a theft report with the offi ce at SC, Joanne said. The culprit was never found.

Exactly a week after Troy ’s phone was stolen, he opened his locker and his cell phone was sitting on top of his lacrosse gloves, Joanne said. Troy had a user password on his phone and without knowledge of that, the phone was ren-dered inoperable to the thief.

As a mother, Joanne said she feels powerless in incidents of student theft, especially concern-ing her son.

“The incidents of theft anger me,” Joanne said. “No one wants their things taken. Some kids might be able to readily replace stolen items and some may not. That’s not the point. They

are victims.” This year, there is a perception of an

increase in overall locker theft, specifi cally in SC locker rooms.

Like Donovan, Sam Rabuck ‘12 was also victimized by locker theives when his back-pack was taken from his locker in the athletic locker room during football practice the fi rst week of school this year. At the time of the theft, his backpack contained his calculator, planner, textbooks, binders and notebooks.

After realizing the items were miss-ing, Rabuck searched the locker room and

checked with teammates in an effort to recover the missing items. When his search yielded no results, Rabuck reported the loss to Coach Edward Nuss and fi led a missing items report in the assis-tant principals’ offi ce the

following day.Fortunately, Rabuck chose to leave items

of value, such as his iPod and cell phone, in his school locker. He regrets not leaving his backpack there too.

“I think that kids steal things because they want it but can’t afford it,” Rabuck said. “Also, there’s the temptation. I think that a lot of us have been tempted to take something that is not ours.”

Rabuck heard pleasant news when his backpack was returned with some of its con-tents left inside in late October, over two months after the incident.

“Unfortunately, many students fail to properly lock their possessions in a gym locker,” Davis said. “Students will often simply leave their backpacks on the fl oor or put their belongings in unlocked lockers and go to class.”

Though each year numerous thefts occur, LT Athletic Director John Grundke cannot say whether this year has shown an increase from years past.

“I think that there are a few individuals who are preying on more trusting students,” Grundke said, in regards to why he thinks

students feel compelled to steal.When an instance of locker theft arises,

LT follows a standard procedure.“First we ask whether the items that were

stolen were locked up,” Grundke said. “You’d be surprised at how many times items are left out in a locker room.”

Students are then asked to complete a theft report. Additionally, administrators will notify coaches to inquire as to whether they have seen anything out of the ordinary in the locker rooms. The appropriate assis-tant principals then get involved and interview students and investigate any leads they receive. Though the thief is not always apprehended, the few that do get caught must return the stolen items to the owner, Grundke said.

“When people are caught stealing, there are severe consequences for their actions,” Grundke said. “People whose items were stolen are also able to press charges so that there are legal charges against them as well.”

Students who are caught stealing, regard-less of whether it is stolen from another stu-dent, from the cafeteria or from the school, receive an out-of-school suspension as a consequence. Circumstances do vary, how-ever, and consequences are considerate of a student’s past record and specifi c situation, Davis said.

Grundke attributes the prevalence of locker theft as a problem at SC in large part to the locker room set up. The athletic lockers at SC have features that make them susceptible to thievery. The football lockers have vents on the bottom where contents can easily be pulled from, even if the locker is locked. Also,

The aeronautics course track is under-going changes that will be implemented for the 2009-2010 school year. Admin-istrators say these decisions were made with a goal of providing more focus for the students. On the other hand, some of the students and faculty would rather not see any courses in the track dropped due to their benefi cial qualities.

“I feel it’s unfortunate that we have to lose classes for a special interest group in order to gain classes for a special interest group,” aviation teacher Kristin Camp-bell said.

Students currently participating in the aviation track are given college credit due to LT’s lighthouse program with Embry Riddle, an aviation university. After collaborating with Embry Riddle, it was decided that classes in three sepa-rate tracks will receive college credit next year. The three tracks include Engineer-ing, Meteorology and Aviation, Applied Arts Division Chair Bob Fritch said. The classes Principles of Aviation Science, Introduction to Space Flight, Private Pilot Operations, Engineering 2 and CAD will all offer college credit next year.

“Embry Riddle provides a logical fl ow for the classes and the decisions are made in conjunction with LT,” Fritch said. “The changes provide a better alignment for students so they can have a career path to follow. They will be able to walk out of high school with college credit in three defi ned course studies.”

Due to the new path, three classes will be dropped from the aviation program. Rules and Warbirds, Airport and Trans-portation Security, and Air Traffi c Control will no longer be running.

“I think it is wrong to cancel Air Traf-fi c Control as that class has the ability to help the FAA in an immense way,” aviation student Brent Seuss ‘09 said. “I recently talked with a retired O’Hare air traffi c controller on this subject, and as an example, he told me that O’Hare is cur-rently understaffed by greater than 50%. Currently the FAA is in desperate need for controllers as the present controllers are retiring in record numbers.”

Next year the aviation track will be entitled Principles in Aeronautical Science and the $100 fee charged for signing up for the classes will no longer be required, Fritch said. The Private Pilots course is also going to be an annual course.

“[These changes] give students a leg up and saves money in the long run,” Direc-tor of Curriculum and Instruction Scott

“Report the theft . Report the theft . Report the theft .

Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t feel powerless,”Joanne Donovan said.

by Tori Bokios

Aviation revamped

Thieves target locker rooms

Garrett Prior ‘09 and Mary Clare Roche ‘09 work on weather patterns during their Space Flight class. Megan Bannister Story continued on page 2

Story continued on page 2

In order to focus students’ studies, aviation program to

cut three classes

Lion questions the legitimacy of craft-based projects in high school.

A father and daughter watch during Barack Obama’s Inauguration. Many LT staff members and graduates attended.

photo illustration by Elizabeth Pierson

All-school Assembly

Story continued on page 5

LION has produced a website that includes additional photos and copies of articles found in the monthly issues.

Continue to access the website for updates and breaking news.

LION investigates the daily routines of LT staff members, including a student

assistant and an associate principal.

Matthew Glowicki

Page 1.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:52:19 PM

NEWS

TableofContents

AroundLT

nNEWS- pages 1-3

nCLUBS- page 4

nIMPACT- page 5

nETCETERA- page 6

nEDITORIALS- page 7

nOPINIONS- page 8

nYOUR VOICE- page 9

nSPORTS- pages 10-12

nDINING OUT- page 13

nMINORITY- page 14

nPROFILES- page 15

nBEHIND THE SCENES-

pages 16-17

nADS- page 18

nCONFLICT- page 19

nGET OUT- page 20

LION has produced a website to provide our readers with an online outlet for information. Included on the site are additional photos and copies of all articles found in the monthly issue of the LION. There are currently photo albums of Brownstock X and the All-school Assembly posted on the site. Check out www.lionnewspaper.com.

Data consortium launchesLarge scale initiative set to provide

new opportunitiesby Monica Ramirez and Paul Schied

Friday, February 20, 2009 n Page 2

Each school that is participating in the Data Con-sortium has a “Data Champion” who is in charge of

coordinating the information from the school.

Data jargon Crime alertsThe Western Springs Police Department places

crime alerts on their website, under the Law Enforcement homepage.

Lena Novak

In January, there were three incidences in and near Garden Market Plaza that involved a male subject asking students for money.

Man threatens students near Garden Market Plaza Suspect approaches students on

three different occasionsby Katie Schoder

Feb. 19-22: Annie Get Your Gun (Musical), NC Reber Center, 7:30 p.m. (Feb 22 show is at 3:30 p.m.)

Feb. 24: Junior High Jazz Festival and Concert, SC Performing Arts Center, 8 a.m. (workshop), 7:30 p.m. (concert)

Feb. 26: Honors Orches-tra Concert, SC Perform-ing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 28: King of Hearts Dance, SC Fieldhouse, 7:30 p.m.

March 2-3: Varsity Choir Auditions, NC Vaughan Building Room 279, 3 p.m.

March 5: NC Student of the Month Breakfast, NC Room 140, 7 a.m.

March 6: AP Exam Reg-istration Deadline, NC and SC Bookstores, 7:15-10 a.m.

March 9: Senior Madrigal Auditions, NC Vaughan Building Room 279, 3 p.m.

March 10: Band Concert, NC Reber Center, 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.

March 11: Understand-ing College Admissions Program, NC Reber Center, 7 p.m.

March 2-14: Mavros Fes-tival (Play), SC Perform-ing Arts Center, 7 p.m.

March 16-17: Wind Ensemble Auditions, NC Vaughan Building Room 275, 3 p.m.

March 17: Vocal Solo and Ensemble Festival, SC G Wing, 3 p.m.

March 18: Winter Athletic Awards Night, NC Field House, 7 p.m.

March 19: NC Blood Drive, NC Vaughan Gym, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

Almost everyday after school, LT students can be found relaxing in Garden Market Plaza to enjoy a quick snack or walking home from school with a couple of friends. On Jan. 12, this daily routine was interrupted by three incidences in and near the Garden Market Plaza that involved a male subject confronting LT students and requesting money from them.

During the first incident, which occurred shortly after school let out, a vehicle approached students near Great American Bagel at the Garden Market Plaza in Western Springs, according to police offi-cials. Within the car was a male, who was accompa-nied by a female. The male offender asked students for money, which they refused to provide. After their refusal, the students left the scene.

Shortly after, the male subject approached another group of students outside of Walgreens and then proceeded to follow that same group northbound on Gilbert Avenue. He asked them for money and when the victims did not offer any, he implied that he had a weapon while also asking them to enter the vehicle. The students refused to go into the offender’s vehicle and left the scene.

“No weapon was ever used or displayed, but the offender implied that he had a concealed weapon,” Brian Budds, Deputy Chief of the Western Springs Police Department (WSPD), said. “Because of the threat, it is classified as an Attempted Aggravated Robbery.”

Around 3:50 p.m., one LT student was walking

on 47th Street near Blackstone Avenue when he was approached by the offender, LaGrange Police Department (LGPD) Detective Dave Rohlicek said. The suspect asked the student for money, similar to the Western Springs incidences. In this scenario a weapon was inferred, and the student proceeded to leave the scene.

Since the WSPD and the LGPD share the same radio band, the LGPD had heard about the two incidences in Western Springs. After Rohlicek learned the facts of the Western Springs cases it was determined the same person was responsible for the robberies.

The WSPD is currently working cooperatively with the LGPD on these cases because they both

involve the same suspect, Budds said.“We are working on some leads, but have not

made any arrests,” Budds said. “There have been no other incidences that have been reported to us or the LGPD since that time.”

Later on Jan. 12, NC administrators were informed about the first incident via a telephone complaint. LT then updated the WSPD on the situ-ation.

Regarding the second incident, a student reported the series of events to the LT administra-tion, who then told K.C. Church, who is the high school liaison officer between LT and the WSPD.

Rohlicek contacted Assistant Principal Kris Costopolous on Jan. 13 and she had already known about the robberies.

By the morning of Jan. 13, the WSPD was aware of both incidences and responded with a crime alert on the department’s website.

After the crime alert was announced, LT fol-lowed up with a mass email, whose purpose was to continue the line of communication from the police department to the administration to families.

“Any time anyone’s safety is threatened, it is a concern,” Principal David Franson said. “The intent behind the written communication is to inform and encourage parents to review safety information.”

In the email, the administration reminded par-ents to use this opportunity to discuss certain safety lessons or concerns with their children.

“I believe parents always appreciate real-time communication from the school when something unusual related to safety has happened,” Franson said.

Cover Story: The Future

One of the computer screens in Julie Brenson’s office flashes to an extensive looking chart. With a few taps on the keyboard, Brenson pulls up the Eng-lish portion of the practice ACT. With a few more, some of the boxes in the chart light up yellow. She has told the database that she wants to see all of the questions that less than fifty percent of students in a given course level answered correctly. The sixth column is conspicuously yellow; all but the AP level missed that question over half the time. The test booklet on Brenson’s desk is open to question six of the English section, and she observes that it is a tricky application of hyphens. Were she an English teacher, she could spend the next day in class talking about hyphens.

But Brenson is not an English teacher. She is the Director of Assessment for LT, and she is demon-strating what the school’s new database and analyt-ics tools can do.

If knowledge is power in the educational realm, a database the size of the one that is currently in the works is the holy grail of teaching tools.

Currently in its first year, data consortium is a project that seeks to compile, analyze and apply student related data from Lyons Township and five associate grade school districts. The partnership will center on the pooling of data such as test scores, grades, attendance and other indicators of student achievement. This past summer, LT purchased Cognos, a sophisticated software package designed to allow for in-depth and specific analysis of that infor-mation. While the project is a long-range initiative and is currently in its infancy, the school hopes to generate reports developed with the insight gained from the data as soon as next fall.

“Let me paint you a picture,” Superintendent Dr. Dennis Kelly, who has been a major proponent of the project, said. “Three years from now, a teacher is sitting in her classroom, and she can see where kids are learning, and where kids are not learning. That is the ultimate goal of the data consortium: to put information in the hands of teachers.”

By inputting scores from tests like the ISAT, EXPLORE, PLAN and ACT, teachers will be able to view student progress throughout their middle and

high school years. Ultimately, by viewing these test scores, teachers will be able to create lesson plans focusing on the areas students need to improve on. Input and analysis has already been completed for the practice ACT that juniors took on Sept. 24, 2008.

No one is more excited about the possibilities than Julie Brenson, who is leading the development of the project at LT along with Director of Curricu-lum Scott Eggerding.

“To me, working with our teachers, working with our associate districts, looking at data to help our studnets, and using a wonderful software tool like Cognos is all fun,” Brenson said. “I love every part of this.”

According to Director of Technology Ed Ten-nant, the program itself is complicated, a fact stemming from Cognos’s flexibility and power. Currently, only standardized test scores are being entered into the database, and other information such as grades will be added next year.

“The whole goal is to get more information in teachers’ hands - to access information about how well kids did in previous years and how well other teachers are doing [teaching] those same skills,” Eggerding said.

At meetings during the Jan. 20 institute day, teachers were given a sneak peek of the database that they will soon be able to use to analyze the performance of their classes and their individual students.

“The reaction was really positive,” Brenson said. “The teachers were wonderful. The institute day was good for opening their eyes to things we can offer them next year.”

While the prospect of tracking students over their entire academic careers was at first daunting for some, many teachers found they had a better idea of what the data consortium was really about after attending training sessions.

“As an English teacher and humanist, I’m a bit wary of measurement or data as a general rule,” Timothy Spitsberg, language arts teacher, said. “But the idea here isn’t about just test scores, it’s about giving teachers new and or better informa-tion so that hey can do their jobs better and students learn more. [It’s] hard not to see benefit there.”

The highly focused analysis that Cognos can facilitate is only one aspect of the project. LT and the associate districts, all of which send the majority

of their students to LT for high school, are looking to compile what Tennant calls “historical and lon-gitudinal type data” that will enable teachers and administrators to see student progress over time.

“We are hoping that this positively impacts stu-dent achievement,” Tennant, who leads the tech-nical aspect of the consortium, said. “The focus is more on the program and curriculum changes that can be made than on the data itself. Data is a tool.”

The data consortium is in keeping with LT’s search for new ways to analyze and boost student achievement.

“Data-driven decision-making is a huge trend going through education right now,” Brenson said. “We are trying to work out ways in which we can most effectively use data.”

While the desire to use numbers to get a firmer grasp on reality is present throughout the edu-cational field, the way in which the LT sphere is approaching the issue is slightly more novel.

“It’s never really been done,” Kelly, who will retire in June, said. “Some might call it insane. I would call it progressive. There are no roadmaps.”

While some large state entities like Kalamazoo County in Michigan and the state of Georgia are already using Cognos, the LT area data consortium is among the first to be attempted across several public school districts in Illinois, Tennant said.

Cognos, which was recently acquired by IBM, is primarily a business intelligence tool used for cor-porate analytics. The technology lends itself well to projects like this one, however, and Cognos is look-ing to fill the niche for database analysis in educa-tion. For this reason, Cognos, which Kelly said the school originally thought was too expensive, cut LT a deal.

“They were pretty aggressive on their pricing, and came way down from the list price,” Tennant said. “Cognos came in and said, ‘we want to give you this Cadillac, Lexus-type product, for Chevy price.’”

Ultimately, the over $94,000 that LT and grade school Districts 101, 102, 103, 105 and 106 have spent is an investment for the future. Kelly sees data consortium as a means of addressing many of LT’s and the associate districts’ goals, including improv-ing minority achievement.

“Data consortium is going to help us on all of our goals,” Kelly said. “Instead of guessing what is going on, we’ll know because we’ll have the data.”

Below are the average scores of each section of the ACT for the Spring 2008 PSAE-ACT taken by students at LT.

23.2 English

23.8 Math

23.2 Reading

22.9 Science

Page 2.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:53:05 PM

NE WSFriday, February 20, 2009 Page 3

by Carrie Mulderink

prepares you for LT,” Thuma said. While Gurrie considered this decision

with psychological and student consider-ations in mind, Park Junior High School of Distict 102 started looking at this idea due to the need for space.

The parents and the Park community were generally against the idea and had the same reaction as that of Gurrie.

“I think that the decision not to move the sixth graders to Park was a wise one,” Terry Hankins, Ogden Elementary School and Park parent said. “As it turned out, there wasn’t enough money to do it anyway and not moving the sixth graders to Park allowed the Board to concentrate on improving the curriculum and aca-demic performance of Park rather than focusing on the construction and logistic issues which would have been necessary had the Board decided to go ahead with the proposal.”

District 105’s SB held forums open to the community throughout 2008.

“We wanted to engage the community in this project with the use of surveys and forums,” Schlichting said. “We wanted to use it to build some really strong rela-tionships with community members.”

Both communities were very engaged throughout the decision making process.

“It was an example of democracy in action, as parents district wide spoke loudly and clearly against the move,” Hankins said. “Many people moved into District 102 because of the outstand-ing neighborhood kindergarten through sixth grade elementary schools. The kin-dergarten through sixth grade configura-tion is far from broken, so there was no need to try to fix it.”

The SB of District 105 made it’s final decision on Dec. 15 and the SB of District 102 decided to open full day kindergarten in order to solve their space constraints.

School Boards reject sixth grade transition

by Tori Bokios

Due to struggling economy, summer projects scaled back

by Alyssa Marie Harn

No changes to be made to local middle schools

For the 2007-2008 school year, LT spent $3 million in renovations. In the previous year, $2.5 million was

spent. This year’s total is $235,000.

Daniel Thuma, sixth grader at Spring Avenue School, said the majority of sixth graders were

against the proposal of moving sixth grade to Gurrie.

Summer renovations A sixth sense

LT applies for waiver

Although eventually declining to take action, in the past year the School Boards of Education in both District 102 and District 105 considered moving the sixth grade to the middle schools.

The School Board of Education (SB) for District 105 started to consider moving the sixth grade to Gurrie Middle School last April. The SB decided to study the option because the sixth, seventh and eighth grade combination is a popular grade configuration in the Chicago area, Glen Schlichting, Superintendent of District 105 said.

“To make that move would have required a lot of planning and research-ing, enough to take us away from some of the goals we are working towards right now,” Schlichting said.

The SB felt as though it needed to investigate the option before commit-ting to a long term plan. Officials found that research suggests that sixth graders are better academically in a kindergarten through sixth grade environment than in a sixth through eighth grade environ-ment, and there is no evidence of an aca-demic benefit in moving the sixth grade to Gurrie, Schlichting said.

“In all of the studies we couldn’t find one single compelling reason to make that move at this time,” Schlichting said.

Current sixth grader Daniel Thuma of Spring Avenue Elementary School, part of District 105 thought that the SB should have moved the sixth graders to Gurrie.

“I thought it would be a good chal-lenge socially and academically; because the sixth graders could interact with older kids and kids from other schools which

A group of students stand in front of Park Junior High School. Last year the School Board of Education of District 102 con-sidered the idea of moving the sixth grade from the associate elementary schools to Park.

Each year LT spends around $1 to 3 million in summer renovations. Due to the poor state of the economy, officials have decided to cut spending to $235,000 for the summer of 2009.

“LT’s school board has historically been financially conservative and tries to keep money reserved,” Chairman of the Facilities Committee James Kholstedt said. “We try to keep a balanced budget and try to stay within the income that we have. We are trying to maintain our facilities, but are currently avoid-ing large new projects.”

As recently as last August, the school dis-trict’s financial condition looked consistent with resources available in prior school years,

but since September of 2008 there has been a substantial change in the economy, causing LT to cut back on renovations, Director of Busi-ness Services David Sellers said.

“It is a reality of life and our current econ-omy,” Superintendent Dennis Kelly said. “You don’t spend unless you have to when the economy is declining. Most people will not notice the lack of change in the short term.”

A list of the potential projects was broken up into three tiers ranked at high, medium or low priority and presented to the Board of Edu-cation, which made the final decisions.

“The school system would benefit from every one of those projects being funded,” Sell-ers said. “We always present to the board the three tiered format so that they have the oppor-tunity to perceive how they are prioritized.”

The approved projects include the replace-

ment of NC pool locker rooms, the P.A. system at SC, Boys Athletic Shower Room at SC, door replacements at both campuses and masonry tuck pointing at NC. They were chosen due to safety issues or deterioration.

“I think one positive in the lack of projects is that over the past few years LT has made significant progress as far as making large improvements such as the SC pool, the SC Performing Arts Center and changes made to the Little Theater,” Sellers said.

One of the main projects taking place is the renovation of the pool locker rooms at NC. The lockers are exposed to humidity and have started to rust and break down in spots, Physical Welfare Division Chair John Grundke said.

“[These renovations] are needed and will be a welcome change for our students and

other outside groups that use the pool,” Grundke said. “They will be able to use the new lockers for years to come.”

The replacement of the boilers at NC will be postponed, despite the fact that they have not been replaced since 1950.

“With the proper maintenance we can run the boilers until the Board is comfortable with replacing them,” Director of Buildings and Grounds Kenneth Brescia said.

PE/Athletic locker room upgrades, unit ventilators, classroom renovations and other projects will also be reevaluated next year.

“We are hoping that the economy will improve and that the discussion will resume for projects for the summer of 2010,” Sellers said. “I hope next summer will be more pro-ductive for facilities improvement.”

LT cuts expenditures

MCT Campus

LT’s Driver Education program has applied for a five-year waiver of Illinois’s Driver Education laws, so it can continue offering range, which has been in place since 1976.

The need to apply for this exemption surfaced when new mandates, enacted in January 2007, were put in place that required all Illinois high schools to offer six hours of behind-the-wheel driving and does not allow range or simulator to serve as a substitution for time on the road with an instructor. LT did agree to discontinue the 7.65 required simulator hours in summer 2008, as they also felt that it did not better prepare students for driving. However, the school does clash with state lawmakers on another matter; they feel that range provides students with valuable experience. Scott Eggerd-ing, LT Director of Curriculum, along with Driver Education teachers, filed an application earlier this month with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), hoping it will grant LT a five-year waiver from the new laws, which would allow the school’s three-phase program to con-tinue.

“The state doesn’t feel that range serves a purpose,” Eggerding said. “We feel that it is a great opportunity for teenagers to practice before they are put in less predictable situations on the road. We want to meet requirements and pupils’ needs at the same time.”

According to Eggerding, students and teachers reaped the benefits of the 12-month exemption from the laws last school year.

Last year 13 high schools in Chicago-land were granted such a waiver, includ-ing Oak Park-River Forest, Naperville Central and Glenbard West. LT will find out in April if its waiver was approved.

Megan Bannister

page 3.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:53:59 PM

CLUBSFriday, February 20, 2009 n Page 4

Orchestra hosts quiz night fundraiserParent committee puts on event for first

time to fund Disney World tripby Katie Palmer

photos courtesy of Jim Anderson

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, located on Michi-gan Avenue, is composed of 107 resident musicians

and hosts more than 150 events every year.

An orchestra is composed of four families, including strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion; each sit in

their respective sections while performing.

Musical familiesOrchestra careers

A woman bids on an autographed baseball mitt at the silent auction, and radio personality John Williams presides over the quiz night.

Parents were jumping out of their chairs and shouting out trivia answers at the orchestra’s quiz night on Jan. 17. This event was held to benefit the orchestra’s first trip

to Disney World, which will take place during the week of spring break.

“It was great to have an event that is intellectual, fun and supports the school, which ties everything together,” orchestra

teacher Jane Ewing said.As part of the event, radio personality

John Williams from WGN-AM came to be the master of ceremo-nies. He is the father of an orchestra member and will be going on the Disney trip too, Ewing said.

At the quiz night, teams of 10 participated in eight rounds of trivia, parent organizer Karen Moore said. Each round had its own theme such as presidential, Illinois, LT and Olym-pic trivia, as well as movies, science and nature. Some orchestra students also came to perform, Ewing said.

Each ticket was $10 and with about 160 people in attendance, the event raised approximately $4,000 for the Disney trip, Ewing said. The trip will cost $50,000 alto-gether, or $1,000 per person, with about 70 students attending.

There was also an auction and silent raffle at the quiz night to further aid the orchestra’s trip. Prizes included a weekend getaway to Geneva, a sailboat ride on Lake

Michigan and signed sports memorabilia, Ewing said. The auction and raffle made over $1,000.

In order to get prizes for the event,

orchestra parents went to local businesses and let them know the cause they were petitioning for, prize coordi-nator Irene Vleor said.

Noodles and Co. in LaGrange was one of the compa-nies to participate in the cause. Noodles donated 25% of the profits from every purchase with the presentation of a special coupon on Thursday Jan. 15, Ewing said.

After a final total of $1,000 in purchases, the orchestra made $250 in the process.

After looking at a number of venues to host the event, the parent committee decided to hold it at the LaGrange Park District, Moore said.

The Park District had the right size room and a cen-tral location for all of those who were attending.

In addition to the quiz night, silent auction and raffle, the group has also had several other individual fundraisers to contribute to their own funds.

For example, each student sold butter braids (a type of pastry) and citrus fruits on their own time, and the profits went to their own personal account, student orchestra member Katie Pog-gensee said.

Orchestra members have also received $2,400 from LT’s parent teacher counsil for their trip, which they split among each student fund, Ewing said.

The grand total of all the orchestra fundraiser events so far is $15,000, she said.

The quiz night event proved to be not only profitable for the orchestra students trip to Disney, but was widely enjoyed by all the parents that attended the event, Ewing said.

“It was so much fun!” Moore said. “We were thrilled that people had a good time.”

Since the event went so well, the parent committee is going to try to make it annual.

“We all worked hard and it turned out to be a great success!” Vleor said. “We didn’t know how it would work since it was our first time holding the event, but luckily everything went smoothly and we would like to try it again next year.”

“It was great to have an event that is intellec-tual, fun and supports the school at the same time.”

-Jane Ewing, orchestra director

DisneyAgenda

In addition to enjoying the warm weather and Disney theme parks, the orchestra will be involved in a variety of events during their trip such as:

n”You’re Instrumental” Workshop (recording the soundtrack to an animated film)

nPerforming at Downtown Disney at Waterfront Stage

nExploring Downtown Disney Marketplace and Character Store

nCompeting at Disney Music Competition

nViewing Wishes at Nighttime Spectacular Fireworks Display

nAttending Festival Disney Awards Ceremony

nAttending festival of the Lion King Performance

nViewing the Spec-tromagic Parade

Source: Orchestra itinerary

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Page 4.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:54:55 PM

INAUGURALFriday, February 20, 2009 Page 5

Chief Justice John Roberts and Barack Obama incorrectly recited the Oath of Office during the

Inauguration, causing Obama to retake the oath.

Inaugural misstep Nearly 1.8 million people packed the National Mall

for the Inauguration of Barack Obama, braving cold weather and wind chills for the event.

Record crowds

A minor case of frostbite, claustrophobia-inducing crowds and less-than-perfect viewpoints all managed to create some of the most memorable moments of my life.

Last month, I was honored to be a part of history by traveling to Washington D.C. for the Inauguration of Barack Obama, the nation’s 44th and first African American president. As a member of the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference, I joined 7,500 other high school students from the U.S., as well as international students from countries such as Costa Rica and Zim-babwe, for the Inauguration. During the conference, I experienced both official inaugural events around D.C. and heard from special guest speakers who offered words of advice and motivation. No matter where I was or what I was doing, I always was thinking in the back of my mind, “you will never experience this again in your life.” It was a sobering feeling, yet I realized how incredibly lucky I was to be experiencing such a historical event in such a personal manner.

By far the most entertaining and influential speak-ers I heard from at the conference were broadcast jour-nalist Lisa Ling and humanitarian Archbishop Des-mond Tutu. Though not as recognizable as the confer-ence’s other speakers- Al Gore and Colin Powell- Ling and Tutu each spoke about subjects that I find incredibly interesting. Ling spoke first, giving me an inside look at the world of broadcast journalism. Her words and stories illuminated a human side of journal-ism, which I had not been able to fully grasp before she spoke. Ling stressed the role of the youth, my gen-eration, in keeping the transition to online media an honorable, trustworthy process. Noting how the media often covers stories that have little to no substance, Ling made me feel rage and a sense of injustice over how many voices in the world are screaming out for help, yet are overshadowed by the story of the adop-tion of Angelina Jolie’s 10th child. At that moment, I

near the front of the room but as the crowd just kept pushing forward, she ended up being particularly close to the stage where Obama appeared.

“The Youth Ball’s what did it for me,” Maggie said. “Barack got up and spoke to us like a proud father. He gave us advice and said that he’d seen what we could do so he believed in what we could do now. That’s when everything—the campaign, the elec-tion, the Inauguration—finally felt real.”

Maggie had volunteered regularly early in the campaign and when Obama began to seek Obama Organizing Fellows, she decided to apply and was selected for the unpaid posi-tion. In July of 2008 Maggie was hired as a field organizer and was responsible for trying to convince approximately 10,000 voters in her county to vote for Obama in November.

Over the course of the summer of 2008, Maggie headed the opening of the Obama field office in Clinton County, Iowa where she directed about 200 volunteers in recruit-ing and “Get Out the Vote” efforts.

“The campaign’s a lifestyle,” Maggie said. “You don’t have time for other parts of your life, working 100 hours a week - you’re just fully invested in this. I definitely took away a lot of friendship from this whole experience, meeting so many dedicated people. The Inau-guration was a culmination of all that.”

For Beth Kelly ‘01, daughter of Superin-tendent Dennis Kelly, the Inauguration had a similar climactic feel. Kelly marched in the

Inaugural parade with the American Workers Contingent. She was involved with Obama’s campaign through SEIU, a major union that endorsed Obama. Individually, Kelly helped manage SEIU’s effort to support Obama in the crucial northern section of Virginia in the form of making phone calls, going door-to-door and directing organizers.

Kelly was unable to watch the Inaugura-tion as she was preparing for the parade, but the group she was with counted down until 12 p.m. when Obama became president

“People just went crazy when the clock hit noon,” Kelly said. “It was really cold waiting for the parade to start, but it was just insane how many people there were.”

Once the parade started, Kelly was stunned at the number of people present and was even able to make eye contact with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as she walked past their observation booth.

“I’m pretty sure they only looked at me because I was the one waving and shout-ing like crazy,” Kelly said. “But it was just so amazing to see them in person right after they were sworn in.”

While Kelly’s connections to a major Obama supporter run deep, Psychology teacher Jessica Lee has ties to another prom-inent supporter of Obama: Senator Dick Durbin. Lee attended George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C. and later interned for Durbin on Capitol Hill, par-ticularly in the area of education policy.

As an Obama supporter and with such strong links to Washington, D.C., Lee decided

that this was a perfect opportunity.“It was really good to be back in D.C.,” Lee

said. “I was there when the election season started and had amazing opportunities to hear politicians speak like Hillary Clinton, Karl Rove, and news anchor George Stephano-poulos. I was also in Grant Park on election night so I was able to participate in different aspects of the election. It was a very memo-rable election. So being in D.C. for the inau-guration brought it all together for me. The experience was almost surreal.”

Lee particularly remembers the silence that fell over the crowd when Obama began to speak and was amazed that it continued throughout the entire speech. However, she does have somewhat tempered expectations for Obama because she is so used to the way things actually happen in Washington.

While Lee recently finished her experi-ences at George Washington and in Wash-ington, D.C., Alison Porter ’08 is just begin-ning there. Porter, a freshman at GWU, volunteered on numerous occasions for the Obama campaign before joining Rock the Vote, a bipartisan organization that focuses on turning out the youth vote.

“I volunteered with his [Obama’s] cam-paign early on, and was really excited to see him finally take the Oath of Office,” Porter said. “I woke up at 5 a.m. that morning and walked about a mile to the National Mall. I’ve never seen so many people so patriotic and enthusiastic about politics or a particu-lar politician.”

Since Porter was unable to volunteer for most of the election due to her internship with Rock the Vote, being able to attend the Inauguration was particularly special.

“This was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my life,” Porter said. “I’ll never forget the incredible amount of support and excitement I saw throughout the entire weekend.”

Porter also was able to attend the We Are One ceremony featuring Obama and high-profile musical guests.

“This epitomizes why I wanted to go to school in Washington D.C. so badly,” Porter said.

According to Porter and Potthoff, other LT graduates in attendance included Kerry Ipema ’07, Leslie Clarke ’07, Pat Donley ’07, Sharief El-Gabri ’06, Danny Napleton ’06, Will Keller ’98, and Kate Cathera ’05.

story continued from page 1

Presidential Inauguration lives up to expectations

nation of the entire trip, the one event that I looked forward to most. The moment had finally come and I would be there to soak it all in. The crowds drawn to the Capitol that day, some 2 million, were completely awe-inspiring. Never before had I seen so many people in one place. It was eerily reminiscent of a sci-fi movie, depicting the evacuation of a major city after some sort of alien attack. An hour of constant walking gave way to moving only feet at a time. Yet, by the time the ceremony began, I had secured a close vantage point-albeit obscured by trees- better than anything I could have imagined. When Barack Obama finally took the podium, I had been standing in under 30 degree weather for over three hours, but that didn’t matter. I was there, in person, hearing him give his speech live as the words came from his mouth. His speech boomed over the length of the mall, speaking of the challenges ahead that our country and its citizens will face. Putting political allegiances aside, his speech provided me with a sense of optimism and hope in the future of America. The country can and will recover. It simply depends on the dedication of its citizens and the perseverance of the American spirit. If we Americans could unite for this occasion, there’s no telling what we could accomplish as a nation acting as one. Such feelings were made possible by being there as it happened, breathing in the D.C. air as a new chapter in the history of America was opened.

Reflecting on my short break from the real world, I take away one theme: renewal. It was incredibly refreshing, stepping away from my daily suburban life and into the focus of the nation’s magnifying glass. The day-to-day routine of eat, sleep, and school can become quite numbing, and this experience came at just the right time. I learned a few things, among them that we are more alike than we are different, and stronger together than we are divided. I learned to trust in the invisible bonds which hold all Americans together and that without this trust, we cannot survive. I learned that I was a part of something much bigger than myself, yet still big enough to make change happen.

promised myself that if I ever were to become a journal-ist, my top priority would be telling stories which the general public does not often get to hear.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s presentation also focused in on the power of youth. He called on today’s generation to dedicate themselves to making a differ-ence in the world. Hearing examples of hardships from his own life, challenges in my life paled in comparison. His words gave me the urge to go climb a mountain, write a novel or do something great. This got me to thinking: if all 7,500 conference participants took Tutu’s words back to their own communities and continued to follow his advice, the world would be a much better place. If we all followed the principles of peace and helping out our fellow man, applying them to our daily lives, the amount of positive change would be astound-ing. Though bettering the world is not a small task, Tutu made me believe that our generation, banded together, could make it happen.

The other half of the conference was all about President Obama. From the “We Are One” Opening Ceremony on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol, the energy of the crowds was overwhelming. The opening ceremony brought together actors, singers, politicians, and hun-dreds of thousands of Americans to celebrate the chang-ing of power in America. It was like one giant party to which we were all invited. Standing among a sea of excited onlookers, I felt a resurgence of patriotism and pride in my country which I had not felt since the uni-fying aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. “The Star Spangled Banner” played as the ceremony came to a close, infect-ing the crowd, which spontaneously began chanting the verses of the patriotic song. “From sea to shining sea” was a fine representation of the crowd that day, which was a mix of white, black, brown, men, women, young and old. People I met had introduced themselves previ-ously as “Jessica from Florida” or “Jenna from Vermont,” but at that moment, we were all citizens of America.

The actual day of the Inauguration was the culmi-

A personal account of the 2009 presidential InaugurationA witness to history

by Matthew Glowicki

Spectators stand atop port-a-potties, struggling for a good view at the crowded Inauguration.

Matthew Glowicki

Matthew Glowicki

Page 5.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:55:29 PM

NewsReel: Here’s what is happening at other schools

School board bans book

Students create three comedies

PictureThisOddNewsA good rule to follow when making trouble is to avoid

being caught. Whether run-ning away or just being in the

wrong place at the wrong time, it is always best to stay safe

and have a good alibi.

Prior Lake H.S.Savage, Minn.

Orestimba H.S.Newman, Calif.

Manheim H.S.Lancaster, Pa.

ETCETERAFriday, February 20, 2009 n Page 6

compiled by Marnie Georges

Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, MSNBC, Yahoo News compiled by Lena Novak

Random chatter Random chatter

A 14-year-old boy impersonated a Chicago police officer in late January and served on the force for about five hours one Saturday afternoon. The boy reported for duty at the Grand Cross-ing Police station dressed in uniform claiming to be an officer from another district assigned to help. He signed out a police radio and a ticket book and stopped traffic violators with another officer who did not notice the boy was underage. While the boy was wearing a full police uniform, he did not have a gun, a bulletproof vest or a police star. The matter is now being examined in the Internal Affairs Department of the Chicago Police.

A Minnesota man was looking for a new way to celebrate his 30th birthday. B.J. Van Beusekom ran on a treadmill for 24 hours, beginning on his birth-day and stopping at noon the next day. Beusekom used a treadmill at Athletic Performance Inc. (API), in the town of Brooklyn Center. API provided a DJ, slumber party and a big screen tele-vision to keep Beusekom motivated. Taking breaks only to change clothes and use the restroom, he raised $3,300 for the American Lung Association. After completing the “feet,” Beusekom rested his stiff legs.

Boy pretends to patrol

Man races to celebrate

Goat kids police

Megan Bannister

The annual LT musical for the 2008-2009 season is “Annie Get Your Gun.” The musical, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, follows the story of Annie Oakley, a famous sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. The show runs from Feb. 19 until Feb. 22 in the NC Reber Center.

Source: Associated Press

“I like quantum physics; it’s like my comfort food. Aside from cookies.”- Mary Clare Roche `09

Police in Nigeria have arrested a goat and it is being detained on charges of armed robbery. A group of men brought the goat to the police claiming it was an armed robber who used black magic to change himself into a goat. The group saw two men trying to steal a car and ran after them. They claim one of the men ran away while the other turned himself into a goat as a distrac-tion. The state police will do nothing further until it is scientifically proven that the goat was really a man. Many people believe in witchcraft through-out Nigeria, and some came to the jail cell to view the goat resting in its cell on a pile of straw.

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Four students were arrested for drug crimes at Manheim High School. Two others were later convicted for being associated with the criminals.

According to Sgt. Tom Rudzinski, the students were a part of an “under-cover drug operation” taking place in the area. The students are being punished for dealing as well as possessing marijuana and a variety of other drugs, including prescription drugs.

In order to recuperate from this ordeal, Manheim High School’s superin-tendent, Gene Freeman, requested that the school take part in a random “prop-erty sweep” conducted by the police where every locker was searced. During the sweep students were not to leave their classrooms for the 90 minute dura-tion. According to school officials, no drugs were found on the premises.

Prior Lake High School was determined to put on a different sort of production, to vary their the-atrical events.

The students were to perform three one act plays over the span of three nights. The titles of the plays were “The Rules of Comedy,” “Conven-tional Behavior,” and “Volpone.”

In addition to being showcased for the stu-dents’ enjoyment, the plays also appeared at the Missota Conference One Act Festival at Prior Lake High School on Jan. 24.

Because of many vulgarities, the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District is attempting to eradicate the nar-rative “Bless Me, Ultima” from the cur-riculum.

Rick Fauss, superintendent of Orestimba High School, removed the novel from classes this year. Certain Eng-lish teachers will voice their view to the school board.

The book is an influential Mexican American novel enumerating the tale of a young boy growing up during the 1940s in New Mexico.

“We have ample evidence through-out history of what happens when we start banning books,” Rudolfo Anaya, the book’s author said. “When we are afraid of ideas and discussion and analytical thinking, the society will suffer.”

Drug bust at school

Lee Redmond was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for her 28 feet long nails, which she broke in the car crash. She had not cut her nails since 1979, and her longest nail on her right thumb measured 2 feet 11 inches.

Crash cuts cuticles short

“[She’s] Asian, and [she] came from Asia. If you’re Caucasian, did you come from Caucasia?

- Janet Brown `10

Page 6.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:24:48 PM

EDITORIALSFriday, February 20, 2009 Page 7

Contact via e-mail: jscales@lths.net 708/579-6403 100 S. Brainard, LaGrange, Ill. 60525

Open Forum:The opinion section of LION is a public forum. Editorials repre-sent the opinion of the LION staff. Other opinions expressed in columns and letters to the editor are the opinions of individuals. Letters to the editor must be signed and represent only the views of the signed writer.

Editorials:Editorials represent the collective opinion of the entire LION staff. The idea for the staff editorial will come from the Opinions Editor or suggestions of the other editors and staff members. One writer will compose each editorial. The staff’s vote on the issue will be published with the editorial in the newspaper.

Advertising: Display advertising rates begin at $30 with optional discounts available. Call 708/579-6403 between noon and 1 p.m. for further information.

Subscriptions: Yearly subscriptions can be purchased for $10.

Lion 2008-09 Staff:Editor-in-chief-Paul SchiedManaging Editor-Elizabeth PiersonArt Director-Kate StephensPage Designers-Marnie Georges, Alyssa Marie HarnCo-Copy Editors-Matthew Glowicki, Tom MeyerCo-News Editors-Tori Bokios, Katie SchoderOpinions Editor-Meg VertovecSports Editor-Jack HostettlerAssistant Sports Editor-Joe MoranPulse Editor-Marney ColemanAssistant Pulse Editor-Katie BatesBusiness Manager-Nick MillerPublic Relations Manager-Carrie MulderinkReporters-Tom O’Brien, Alex Butler, Mike Lyons,Lena Novak,Katie Palmer,Monica Ramirez, Kristin Van Spankeren,Tripp Stelnicki Photo Editor-Megan BannisterFreelancer-Kelly BastyrAdviser-Jason ScalesFaculty Assistant-Nik Gallicchio

LIONFebruary 20, 2009 Volume 99, Issue 5

The Voice of Lyons Township Students Since 1910

Because the majority of the NC parking lot is devoted to staff parking, there are only 25 highly sought after

spaces reserved for student drivers.

This year, there were 22 acts that performed during periods two through 10. T-shirts were also sold and

all the profits went to Toys for Tots.

Parking problem Brownstock business

AnotherView

Jack Hostettler

Parking lottery system fails to consider need of each student

Our Position: Instead of relying solely on a lottery system to distrib-ute the coveted parking spots at NC, administrators should consider

the need of each individual as well as seniority in their decision.

Staff Vote: 20-3

Save Brownstock, keep unique LT tradition alive

Our Position: In light of success and student approval of this year’s Brownstock event, it is imperative that the LT administration keep this tradition alive despite the retirement of founder Glen Brown.

Staff Vote: 22-1

Each semester, more than one hundred students apply for parking spots in the NC parking lot. This year, first semester alone, 246 students applied for parking. Then, second semester, 144 students applied. Despite the huge interest, only 25 of these students are randomly selected to receive one of the in-demand spots each semester. Although the administrators are not to blame for the overall lack of parking, they can control which students receive the sought-after spaces. Instead of doling out the spots to students by chance, the administration should imple-ment a system that considers both the need of each student along with his or her year in school.

The schedules of LT students vary drastically. While some students balance a part-time job, athletics and other extracurricular activities every day, many students just head straight home after school. A number of students are dependent on the salaries they earn from after-school jobs, and in some cases, these students need transportation that leaves directly from school in order to arrive at their workplace promptly. If these students live far enough away from school to have bus transportation provided, oftentimes the buses arrive too late or take too long for them to get to work on time.

Many other students are involved in sports or activities with very demanding schedules. Some LT athletes have practice both before and after school, beginning before 6 a.m. and lasting late into the evening. Although LT does provide late buses, they depart long before any sports practices are over. Therefore, these athletes must rely on a parent to drop them off and pick them up at inconvenient hours, or they must find a ride with a friend who has a parking spot.

While walking or biking to school is typically a viable option, few students feel safe or alert enough to walk or bike home so early in the morning or late at night. In light of these safety concerns, these busy students could greatly benefit from the luxury of a parking space in the school lot. Students with less hectic schedules have time to walk to and from school while it is light out, yet many of these students end up with parking spots in lieu of more deserving peers.

Although it would be impossible for administrators to award spots to all of the students with demanding extracurricular responsibilities, they could at least ensure that some of these diligent students receive parking spaces. When applying for a parking spot, students should be required to include a brief explanation of their daily commitments, from sports to activities to jobs. Students should list the time that they must arrive and depart from school each day as well as how far away they live. Then, school officials could use their discretion to administer spaces to students with the greatest need. Because there will likely be more deserving students than spots available, seniors should have priority in the decision.

This method would be more time-consuming for the administration; however, it would greatly simplify the lives of both busy students and the parents who must chauffeur them. LT prides itself on its active student body, so the school should do these committed students a favor by allowing them a better chance to receive parking spots.

What originated as a small gathering in English teacher Glen Brown’s classroom, with students showcasing their musical talents in front of the class, soon evolved into an annual tradition at NC, a celebration of music and camaraderie. As the event grew in venue with a move to the Reber Center, it also grew in participation—including both students and staff—and became a highlight of the year, revealing unknown musical talents from familiar faces around LT.

Brownstock, like other school traditions such as the All-school Assembly, works to unify the student body in a school that is geographically divided by two campuses. Brownstock makes LT unique; it is unlike any other event hosted by our school or any other local school. It carries the weight of tradition and meaning, commemorating an LT teacher and bringing together students in an informal setting to honor their peers’ talent.

The all-day music festival has occurred each year on the day right before the Winter Break for the past 10 years. Because it is probably the most highly anticipated break of the year, LT cannot reasonably expect students to put forward 100 percent effort in class on this day. If teachers or division chairs prohibit their classes from attending the event, they often offer a “class-party” in lieu of Brownstock; this use of time is much less productive. If class time is going to be diverted from the curriculum, then why should students be forbidden from enjoying their last day, listening to live music and partaking in a tradition that defines the student body and LT as a whole?

Brownstock gives students pride in their school, a pride that is unparalleled by any passion for LT sporting events or classes. While this year’s Gold Rush presence at sporting events is at an all time low, the attendance at Brownstock thrived from enthusiasm and student participa-tion. Brownstock has the reputation of being laid back and celebrating LT’s musical talents that might otherwise go unrecognized. Not only do students have the opportunity to perform for their peers, but teachers—those who you would least expect—can pick up their instru-ments and perform for their students outside of the classroom.

Of course, the argument may be made that it is not a fair event because only NC students participate; however, eventually all students will have the chance to grace the stage or other-wise participate in the event as an audience member.

While all schools have events similar to our homecoming variety show, Brownstock allows the musically inclined to showcase their talents and reveal their passion in a school environment, an opportunity other high schools most likely do not offer. In a festival remi-niscent of the eclectic nature of Lollapalooza, students can enjoy everything from punk rock to rock-‘n’-roll cover songs to Bob Dylan classics.

Though founder and namesake Glen Brown may be leaving LT, the event and legacy of Brownstock should be kept alive, not retired.

Page 7.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:57:04 PM

Probably one of the greatest days of my senior year was the day that Phish announced that they were getting back together. The renowned ’90s jam band is reuniting on March 6 and playing for three nights at the Hampton Coliseum. My older brother, who was once a Phish-head himself, and I are fortunate enough to be going to see Phish on March 8!

After the band’s abrupt 2004 break up, all four of Phish’s member went down their own paths and tried having solo careers, but nothing could sur-mount the music that the original band was able to produce. Phish was able to entice its listeners with its mellow and extended jams, and unlike most bands, it performed better live than in studio recorded albums.

Whenever I am listening to Phish, people always ask me: “How can you listen to Phish? There are no words.” This is true; the band’s songs have very few words (they are mostly Trey’s guitar riffs and the band jamming). However, the lyrics are clever and creative when they are there. Songs like “Brother,” a song about somebody jumping in the tub with “your brother” are random and goofy, and that is why I love them.

I’ll admit it—I’m pro-Barbie. On a superficial (or should I say… plastic?) level, it’s indisputable that the doll flaunts an unrealistic body and unfeasible fea-tures. However, if you take the time to look beneath that perfectly tanned syn-thetic exterior, you will see that there is much more to Barbie than an hourglass figure on steroids.

People are quick to criticize Barbara for her build. Most people have heard of the scientifically proven fact that no actual human could physically sustain Barbie’s curvaceous stature (although images of Pamela Anderson beg to differ). To all of those Barbie bashers, let me reiterate that Barbie is plastic. She also does not have toes, her head can be easily detached and reattached on a whim and her feet are permanently flexed in a position that, though convenient for her hot pink heels, is utterly ludicrous. So, I don’t really think that Mr. Mattel was aiming for realistic.

There is another major loophole in the protest of Barbie’s opposition. The same moms who are preaching that Barbie promotes an unhealthy body image are often guilty of being figure-obsessed themselves. Instead of seeing Barbie for whom she really is—and trust me, although it may seem otherwise, there is more than just air between those plastic ears—Barbie haters focus solely on her flamboyant figure.

I mean, seriously, Barbie is far more successful than she gets credit for. Between finishing med school to become a pediatrician, surgeon, dentist AND vet, Barbie is also a paleontologist, an astronaut, a NASCAR driver and was elected president long before the highly publicized campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. If keeping up with that crazy schedule doesn’t warrant a Malibu vacation, I don’t know what does.

So, to all those feminists who attack Barbie, I say first and foremost, watch out. Barbie was an officer in the Army, Marine Corps and Navy—don’t let her blonde tresses and lipsticked smile deceive you. And, more importantly, recognize that Barbie represents so much more than an overly exagger-ated supermodel. She is a role model. So take that criticism farther down the doll aisle—to a much more deserving toy. A Bratz doll, perhaps?

Every year, SC and NC students come together for the All-school Assembly in the NC fieldhouse. Although many students look forward to the spirited event, others see it as a waste of time and

money. LION polled 189 students to see how they felt about the annual assembly.

COLUMNSFriday, February 20, 2009 Page 8

PawsUp

PawsDown

MegaBytes

128-pack Crayon Boxes- without both Forest Green and Jungle Green, I'd be a lost soul.

Second semester senior year- If I weren’t so lazy, I’d think of something witty to write here.

Groundhog Day- only in America.

Minesweeper- if I knew how to play, I’d only have a worse addiction.

Orville Reden-bacher- you know you’re a legend when you make delicious popcorn AND are men-tioned in a Lil Wayne song

Snuggies- Google it. Seriously.

Miley Cyrus- the lip-syncing is better than your real voice. Stick with it.

The new LION font - gkaof

Second-hand smoke- all the benefits, without paying $6 a pack.

Combination fast food restaurants- good God, finally! Krispy Kreme and Taco Bell ... IN ONE PLACE! Somebody pinch me!

Catching shirts at the All-school Assembly- sweet, an XXXXL 2002 Homecoming shirt! It’s like Christmas in Feb-ruary!

School-wide bur-ritos- score one for the freshmen.

Michael Phelps- the competition isn’t the only thing he smokes ... budumpsssh!

Spiked hair- little kids? Adorable. Teenagers? Ques-tionable. Mid-30’s with kids? Unac-ceptable.

McDonald’s- taking the unhealthy salad from mere dream to slimy reality.

Barbie Girl

Point

All-school Assembly brings together student body; promotes school pride, unity

CounterPoint

Extravagant All-school Assembly wastes time, Student Council funds

YourOpinion

by Katie Bates

by Kristin Van Spankeren

Meg Vertovec

Joe Moran

36

Each winter, LT students and faculty members alike look forward to the entertaining and lively all school assembly presented by Student Council. Although this fun event promotes a stronger bond between peers and their school, the assembly includes some negative aspects that affect LT as a whole. To name a few, the gathering is very costly, offers outlandish performances and is a waste of class time.

In total, the cost of the assembly usually ranges from about $4,000-$5,000 each year, Brian Nolan, Student Activities Director, said. The money to pay for all per-formers and special features comes from the revenue from sales during the Homecoming and King of Hearts dances. Even though Student Council strives to stay inside its budget, this large sum of money could serve purposes that are truly necessary for LT, such as remod-eling the bathrooms that students often complain about. Also, similar to the Hurricane Relief donation at Home-coming in 2008, Student Council could make better use of its funds by contributing more money from sales to a charity.

Last year, Student Council paid about $1,500 for rented items at the assembly. This year, even more money was spent on performers. This raises a concern

In a school divided by multiple campuses, unity becomes less of an expectation and more of a goal to be achieved. While an assembly that buses roughly 2,000 freshmen and sophomore students to an upperclassman campus, and cuts out two full hours of the normal school day, seems an over-ambitious and somewhat unneces-sary reach, the work done and sacrifices made for the event are hardly in vain.

Regarding sheer student appeal, the assembly is an event highly anticipated by many LT students of differ-ent grades and backgrounds for a quite simple reason: the All-school Assembly gives all LT students a chance to participate in something together. Annual partici-pants in the assembly include in-season sports teams such as boys basketball, girls gymnastics and the Euryth-mics dance company. While displaying portions of their talent in different activities or competitions (such as the boys swimming vs. wrestling tug of war competition), the sports teams involve the audience, or rather, the whole school in what they do, bringing students with different interests together.

Aside from showcasing sports teams, the class com-petitions select several members from each of the four classes at LT to compete in floor events. The competitors

as some performances last year did not necessarily appeal to the viewers. Specifically, the male and female performers that performed intimate acrobatic stunts together on the fabric suspended from the ceiling were observed by several students as excessive and unenter-taining.

Overall, the assembly lasts for nearly two hours, not including the one hour time period for underclassmen to be bused to and from NC. In addition, because of its elongated time frame, the assembly decreases each class period to about 19-29 minutes each, making teaching a full lesson and gaining students’ attention almost impos-sible.

However, students may argue that the assembly is merely a creative and fun way to create a positive vibe at LT. But does it really require 46 buses wasting energy and creating pollution to bring pride into the halls of LT? School spirit must come willingly from each member of the student body to create an optimistic out-look on school activities, not from a forced assembly in a hot, stuffy gym of 4,000 people.

Although the assembly is created with good inten-tions, its costly price, peculiar performances and misuse of class time are not necessary in promoting overall school pride.

look to their class members in the audience for addi-tional energy and support. While the assembly is widely intended for fun and entertainment, the class competi-tions motivate students to participate, interact and, in turn, enjoy each other’s company.

While somewhat drastic measures are taken to ensure the scheduling of the All-school Assembly each year- bus shuttling from SC to the NC, shortening and partial deletion of class material for one whole day- the necessity can be derived from the anticipation and excitement of the students and staff for the event each year. It is often an event to be looked forward to as a mass amount of attendants walking out of the All-school Assembly with disapproval is a rare occurrence.

The bottom line is, with college standards continu-ally rising and high school work load increasing, it is not enough just to post a flyer or make an intercom announcement voicing your team, club or cause. Experi-ence is key in truly being able to understand and appre-ciate fellow students, and the large pep-rally ambiance of the assembly provides just that. From Relay for Life promoting its yearly summer event to the LT Step-pers performing a piece of original urban dance, the All-school Assembly caters to a variety of personalities, interests and then some.

42

This year, many seniors were angered when all LT students were offered free burritos. In previous

years, only seniors have received this benefit.

This year marks Barbie’s 50th year on the market. The iconic doll still brings in an estimated $3 billion

dollars each year.

Burrito backlash Birthday girl

73

Noise

55No

Phish-head

How do you feel about the All-school Assembly in general?

What do you think would improve the All-school Assembly next year?

How do you feel about this year’s All-school Assembly?

65 16

12

32

257

22

1212

12

Generally fun to watch and participate in

Way to get out of class

Unites students and factulty

Worse

Same

Better

I did not attend last year

Different performers/entertainment

More class competitions

More audience participation

Other

More club/sports team competitions and performances

3%

4%No interest or opinion

Waste of time and money

Other Suggestions:When we polled the student body, many people offered suggestions for future all-school assemblies.

Below are some of the most popular:

More teacher performances Jesse White Tumblers Make assembly longer Tug-of-War weight limit for wrestlers Just cancel school that day Only give free burritos to seniors Kanye West performance Shaq

Page 8.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:57:50 PM

YOUR VOICEFriday, January 9, 2008 Page 9

Write and tell us what you think 100 S. Brainard Ave., La Grange, Ill. 60525 LION reserves the right to edit all letters

this law is working as we intended-the goal all along was to save lives-I believe we still have work to do.

No law is perfect. As such, my office will continue to work with state and national traffic safety organizations to consider ways we can improve upon Illinois’ GDL program.

My office will also continue to partner with high schools, driver education instructors and parents to improve the way we prepare our teens to drive safely and responsibly.

The goal is always the same: to make Illinois roads safer and save more lives.

PhotoOpinion

“My phone number!”

“‘Forever = You + Me’”

“I have four. ‘I’m in a glass case of emo-tion,’ ‘I caught you a delicious bass,’ ‘I love lamp,’ and ‘You smell like bacon.”

“My version would say ‘Facebook Stalk Me.’ I think it’s funny because most teen-agers’ lives revolve around Facebook.”

“Mine would say ‘Nice abs’ because that is an important feature for that special someone to have.”

What would your ver-sion of the Valentine’s Day candy hearts say?

Ryan Faucher ‘11

The issue of teen driving safety is very important to me. In 2005 and 2006, it seemed that just about every time I opened a newspaper or turned on the news, there were stories about teenagers killed in car crashes. It was happening too frequently, and I knew something needed to be done.

That’s why in the summer of 2006 I initi-ated the Teen Driver Safety Task Force. We knew we had our work cut out for us. We knew that automobile crashes were the lead-ing cause of death for teens. We also knew that national studies showed that a strong graduated driver liscensing (GDL) program could work to reduce teen fatal crashes.

As a result of the Task Force’s work, my office initiated and the General Assembly passed groundbreaking legislation that took effect Jan. 1, 2008, giving teens more time to obtain valuable driving experience while under the watchful eye of a parent or guard-ian, limiting in-car distractions and requir-ing teens to earn their way from one stage to the next by avoiding traffic convictions.

State and national traffic safety organiza-tions praised Illinois’ GDL law as one of the best in the nation. The praise was all well and good. But results are what really matter.

That is why I am pleased to announce that teen driving fatalities in Illinois dropped over 40 percent in the first full year of our state’s GDL law. In 2007, 155 teens age 16-19 were killed in automobile crashes. In 2008, 92 teens died in crashes.

The fact that 63 fewer teens died in automobile crashes in our state last year is worthy of celebration.

While we can and should celebrate that

White fights teen car crashes Samantha Janas ‘10

Nathan Cox Reed ‘09

Biology teacher David Stormont

Letters to the Editor give readers an oppurtunity to participate in the newspaper. Take advantage and write

a comment, compliment or complaint today.

LION prints 4,000 copies per issue. It is distributed to students, faculty and other high schools across the country. Local businesses also receive the LION.

Send your letter to the editor LION readers

Sudoku puzzles consist of grids of nine columns, nine rows and nine blocks of nine smaller boxes. To solve the puzzle, fill in the squares so that each column, row and

block includes one of each digit one through nine.

Teachers interject opinions

Erica Geis ‘10

Maggie Orlowski ‘12

NumberCrunch

This year the first African-American was elected president of the United States. It was not an effortless campaign. Republicans and Democrats battled to make this a historic election. America would either have an African-American president or a woman as vice president. Because of this excitement, politics came up in many class discussions.

In past political discussions in classrooms, tensions arise quickly, especially when a teacher contributes with his or her own political views. It makes many students feel uncomfortable when their opinions are challenged by their teachers.

Although it is important to inform stu-dents about events occurring in our nation, it is also important to allow students to have their own political ideas. Many high school students haven’t yet developed their political views, so when teachers express their opin-ions, students are given biased information.

Teachers should make their students aware of political events, while not let-ting their personal beliefs effect discussion.

Source: puzzles.about.com

Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State

Junior speaks against ACT classLT has recently made the decision for

juniors enrolled in second semester study hall to undergo a mandatory ACT prep class twice a week during their work time. This decision, intended to raise students’ scores for the ACT, is unfair to many students.

Junior year in high school is very demand-ing and many students choose to take a study hall in their schedule to keep up with the work they will endure during the year. Aside from the high work load, juniors are also taking the ACT and must prepare for that. Although the opportunity for students to take ACT prep classes during their study hall may be very beneficial to those who don’t have time to take prep classes outside of school, the fact that this class is mandatory makes it unfair to those who have already begun preparing for the ACT.

Many juniors who have, or are anticipat-ing taking the ACT in the future, have already enrolled in similar prep classes outside of school. These outside classes cost extra money,

Anna Karwowski ‘10

LetterstotheEditorand also take precious time out of students’ schedules. When students have enrolled in these classes outside of school, they should be able to use their study hall time as they please and not be diverted from their studies by material that they have already encoun-tered.

LT should offer optional ACT prep during study hall, and let students decide for themselves whether of not they feel it would be necessary for them to sustain.

Page 9.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:08:55 PM

This is the first in a series of stories following the LT baseball team.There will be

updates throughout the season.

SPORTSFriday, February 20, 2009 n Page 10

‘Roid RangerAlex Rodriguez’s name was released as one of the 104 positive results for ‘03 steroid testing. He had pre-viously denied any performance-enhancing drug use.

Cubs closer, anybody?Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg will try to impress

manager Lou Piniella during Spring Training, as they are the two candidates for the 9th-inning role.

Expectations were high for the 2008 LT varsity baseball team. With many players remaining from the 2006 summer state championship team, LT was billed as a preseason state title contender. The Lions had a solid if unspectacular season, relying primarily on senior veterans. In 2009, the baseball challenge falls to a new group of seniors.

“It really shouldn’t be that big of a deal [not playing much during the 2008 season],” pitcher/first basemen James Leszczynski ’09 said. “We played the summer season with kids at the same level as us and we played on travel teams throughout the summer. We got a lot of playing time then, so last year’s inactivity won’t affect us this year.”

If last summer was any indication, LT has the ability to make a deep run in the playoffs. After a slow start, the Lions played their best baseball at the end, defeating St. Joseph’s and upsetting top-ranked Nazareth to win the Regional championship before falling to Fenwick in Sectionals. That big improvement over the course of the summer season has the LT coaching staff optimistic for the 2009 campaign.

“I am very optimistic about this team,” assistant coach Chris Cabaj said. “Anytime you are successful as a pro-gram it is cause to be encouraged. We did struggle a bit last summer early but I think we grew as a team and a program. By the end, beating the top seeded team is certainly some-thing we can take and stick in our memory bank and use as positive imagery during the spring.”

Tryouts for this year’s team will take place the first week of March. After three weeks of practice, LT opens their season March 25 against Montini, followed by a week and a half of a draconian schedule of non-conference games against such perennial powers as Brother Rice, Sandburg and Naperville Central.

Looking forward to conference play, a cause for encour-agement is the success that the senior class has had in the West Suburban Silver conference, including a conference championship their sophomore season. Oak Park-River Forest and Hinsdale Central will probably pose the greatest threats to another first place finish in the Silver division, but the conference, top to bottom, is arguably one of the tougest in the state.

“We focus on the challenge of playing baseball well and not who our opponent may be,” head coach George Ushela said. “We respect all of our opponents and expect them to play their best against us.”

Perhaps the biggest positive coming out of the summer season was the emergence of a solid starting rotation. Although noth-ing is predetermined and a roster has not yet been set, based off of the summer season, LT will most likely use a combination of

LT baseball anticipates seniors carrying on program’s prestige, tradition

by Nick Miller

Gymnasts statebound

As the girls varsity gymnasts walked into the gymnastics gym on Dec. 22, the first Monday of winter break, they had a lot to think about. The team was undefeated, head-ing towards a conference championship, ranked seventh in the state and included in the Chicago Tribune’s preseason five teams to watch. However, all that vanished from the girls’ minds when they opened the door to their gym.

A pipe had burst in the cold tempera-tures and flooded the area under the floor, causing buckling and bulges in the normally flat surface.

Upon being alerted to the situation, maintenance immediately shut down the flow to the area to contain any flooding before absorbing and removing the water.

“The landing mats on the gym floor are new, but because they were removed in time, damage was avoided,” head coach Katherine Karubas-Powell said. “We were very lucky as the cost to replace regulation landing mats is expensive. LT’s Administra-tion responded as promptly as possible. We have one of the finest facilities in the Con-ference.”

Despite this setback, the team continued to practice at the facility and adapt to their new situation. According to Karubas-Pow-ell, once the water was removed the damage to the floor was minimal enough that the team did not ever have to miss practice.

In order to fix the buckles in the floor, weights were brought down to the gym and placed on the bulges to flatten them, which occasionally affected which apparatuses could be used.

“Some days, we couldn’t practice beam or bars, depending on where the floor was buckled at the time,” Erika Wallace ’10 said. “It was just a little distraction and it truly didn’t have a long-term impact on the team.”

While the immediate problem with the

While the immediate problem with the floor was resolved quickly, a lingering smell in the gym triggered questions about a possible mold presence, which would be a major health concern. A dehumidifier was placed in the room to remove excess water from the air, but no water was ever found in the dehumidifier.

Due to health concerns, the Environmen-tal Protection Agency (EPA) was brought in to carry out tests to determine if mold was present in the gyms and whether the facility could continue to be used.

“The most important thing is safety,” Karubas-Powell said. “There have been no secondary mold symptoms, but we weren’t taking any chances. According to EPA reports, no mold was discovered in the gym.”

This was fortunate for the team because on Feb. 5 the gym hosted a regional meet, which the Lions won. The girls then advanced to the sectionals competition at Hinsdale Central, where they finished second to Sandburg and earned a trip to the upcoming state competition to be held at Palatine High School. LT finished ahead of the Red Devils by less than one point to earn their second place finish.

The winner of each of the four sectional meet moved on to the state meet and the four highest ranked second place finishers also advanced, including the Lions. State competitions will begin today, Feb. 20, and will finish on Feb. 21.

Additionally, stars Emily Urben ‘09, Kristi Carling ‘09 and Taylor Southworth ‘11 finished in the top five on their respec-tive apparatuses, including uneven parallel bars and the balance beam, meaning that will also automatically move on to individ-ual state competitions.

In spite of this unusual situation, the team has continued to move forward and Karubas believes it will not be a major distraction for the athletes.

“It will only get in our way if we let it,” Karubas-Powell said. “It has not been a challenge because we haven’t let it. These

Leszczyn-ski, Brian Leh-mann ‘09 and Josh Hudnut ’09 to start the three weekly conference games. Brian Hass ’09 and Mark Koziol ‘10 also figure to get a lot of activity, either as nonconference game starters or relief pitchers.

“I’m not worried about the starting pitching at all,” Leh-mann said. “We will be in every game, but the question is can we put runs on the board. It’s going to come down to how consistent we are on offense.”

The lineup will see many new players competing for playing time. If the starters look anything like they did over the summer, the infield could consist of Leszczysnki at first base, Lehmann and Mike Pater ’09 rotating between second and third base and Spencer Mahoney ’11 at short-stop. Andrew Schrepfer ‘09 should retain his role as the starting catcher. The outfield will have its share of first time starters as well, with Danny Marston ’09, Ryan Nabor ’09 and Mike Hughes ’10 figuring into the equation with Brian Trefil ’09, who started in center field last season. Ushela is confident the inexperience will not be a problem going into the season.

“The seniors who primarily sat as juniors hopefully developed and honed their skills in their junior year to make a greater contribution as seniors,” Ushela said. “Generally, those players are more determined and focused to not let an underclassmen beat them out of the playing opportunity at their position. Their hunger for playing time is a tremen-dous motivator for them to work even harder and make the most of the opportunity that they may have as a senior.”

Even with positive answers to questions about the offense, the success of this year’s team will be determined by how well they react to adversity. This, according to Cabaj, is what separates the good teams from the great ones.

“All of our successful teams have played with an even-tempered approach to the game,” Cabaj said. “When adver-sity hits you, and it always does in baseball, do you complain about it or do you work harder and smarter to overcome it? If our guys do that I feel we will have another great season this year at LT.”

girls spend so much time in the gym and they’re so focused that this hasn’t really been a problem.”

Remaining focused is of particular importance because this year’s conference and regional champion squad is eyeing a deep state run to cap off an already suc-cessful season.

“We’ve been able to overcome this,” Wallace said. “We’ve had practice every-day and I don’t think anyone’s missed a beat.”

Karubas-Powell shares this view of the team and said that she thinks that the girls will not suffer many adverse affects from the flooding.

“I’ve been really proud of the girls and the way the team’s handled this,” Karubas-Powell said. “We’ve had this huge adver-sity and the gymnasts have handled it so well. I think of it as a little wrinkle in our path, but they’re still shining.”

Girls gymnastics perseveres through gym flooding

A girls gymnastics team member stretches across one of the buckles that developed as a result of water damage in the NC gymnastics gym over winter break.

SWEETSTATS 0- Chicago Bulls on the East roster for the NBA All Star game last Sunday in Phoenix. 2- pitchers in running for the Cubs’ closer job.

Carlos Marmol and ex-Marlin Kevin Gregg will square off during Spring Training, both hoping for the 9th-inning role.

7- days until the LT “blackout” when the boys varsity basketball team hosts rival Hinsdale Central at the NC Fieldhouse. The Devils beat the Lions handily in their first meeting 60-49. Tip is 7:30, Friday.

35- years Johnny “Red” Kerr worked in the Bulls’ organization. Red served in a variety of roles, most notably as the team’s very first head coach and then as a color commentator. He was recently honored by the team, and will have a statue made in his likeness placed outside the United Center.

104- MLB players who tested positive for steroids in the ‘03 season. Among them is current New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, the ‘03 MVP.

Photo courtesy of Catherine Cozza

by Tom Meyer

Josh Hudnut ‘09 practices hitting in the batting cages during a baseball intermural practice on Feb. 9. Megan Bannister

Seniors ready to take leading role

Page 10.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:25:57 PM

SPORTSFriday, February 20, 2009 n Page 11

Senior heads toward state meet by Kristin Van Spankeren

Alex Lyons ’09 joined LT track as a freshman simply to spend more time with friends, and not necessarily to pursue a future in running. But his motives may have lead him down a different path when he competed at the varsity level that season and raced in the 3200 meter relay at state.

Lyons’ early varsity success continued with state appearances his sophomore and junior year. His enjoyment of the sport helped him to work harder, ultimately let-ting him triumph as an athlete, Lyons said.

With his competitive drive, natural speed and hard work ethic, Lyons makes an exceptional track runner, Lisa Men-ninger, Lyons’ mom, said.

“What I notice most about Alex is how he wants to be a complete athlete,” Men-ninger said. “Alex is not afraid to work hard and be committed.”

With Menninger’s 11 years of expe-rience as a runner, competing in over 25 marathons and becoming a professional duathalon athlete in 2003, she notices the signs of a devoted track athlete in her son. Lyons not only trains intensively for his sport, but recognizes the importance of his sleep mannerisms, diet and obligation. He understands the ups and downs of running and can deal with the realistic aspects of it, Menninger said.

“Alex has learned to do the extra things in his training to be a good high school ath-

The Cubs and Sox will look to jumpstart their respec-tive seasons this week in the Arizona sunshine. The

Northsiders are in Mesa; the Sox in Glendale.

Michael Phelps was recently suspended for three months by USA Swimming for his unfortunate party

photos taken at the University of South Carolina.

Spring in the air Phelps’ folly

CubsAreBack

Jack Hostettler

Megan Bannister

As the lights went out on the Cubs’ season last year, the team left many fans wondering if their club could ever reach its true potential. The Cubs entered the playoffs as the team to beat in the National League, only to fizzle out of the playoffs after a divisional series sweep by the Dodgers. It’s a new year, with new faces, and as the lovable losers take the field in Mesa, Ariz. for Spring Train-ing, they will once again feel the pressure as favorites to get back to October baseball.

The Cubs will need to rely on a strong rotation as well as a deep outfield. That starting staff will include familiar faces in Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, Rich Harden. After right-hander Jason Marquis was traded to the Colorado Rockies, it looks like the leading candidate for the fifth spot is Sean Marshall. This is the best and deepest pitching staff in the NL Central, if not the league, but will need injury-prone Rich Harden to stay healthy throughout the year, which has been a prob-lem in the past.

The outfield has the ability to help carry the Cubs with its depth. Alfonso Soriano will be the man in left for the Cubbies, but Reed Johnson, Joey Gathright, and Kosuke Fukudome are inter-changeable at all three outfield positions, giving the team the versatility that is envied by clubs throughout the division.

Newcomer Milton Bradley will provide switch-hitting power to the lineup, a much needed asset in a dominant right-handed team at the plate, and utility man Aaron Miles can be placed almost any-where.

Last year’s wild card winners out of the NL Central, the Mil-waukee Brewers, will be without their workhorse in starter C.C. Sabathia, who signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees in the off-season and their other ace, Ben Sheets. Their rotation will not be able to fill the enor-mous hole left by Sabathia, and while the offense includes sluggers Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, this team simply won’t be able to stack up to the quality and depth of the Cubs’ roster.

The last apparent division con-tender is none other than the rival Redbirds out of St. Louis who have made headlines recently when reigning NL MVP Albert Pujols gave slugger Manny Ramirez manager Tony LaRussa’s phone number. While this blockbuster deal would make opposing pitch-ing staffs cower in fear with the thought of Pujols, Manny, and All-Star Ryan Ludwick going 3-4-5 in the lineup, the Cardinals are not likely to shell out the four to five year contract that the 37-year-old Ramirez wants. This team will once again be put on the shoulders of Pujols and could be the Cubs’ stiffest competition if the team can stay healthy, an issue that even-tually knocked them out of the playoff hunt last year. A rotation that will likely be without former Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter might eventually seal its own fate down the stretch.

As evidenced with last year’s playoff blowup, the fate of the Cubs in October is unpredictable at best. One outcome is almost a sure thing, though: the Cubs will once again be the ones spraying champagne in the locker room after a Central division championship.

lete,” head coach Mike Danner said.Lyons’ 3-year state experience as

a Lion, running in the state finals last season and being a member of the fifth place cross country team in 2008 differ-entiates him from other runners, Danner said. However, his teammates’ encour-agement makes workouts easier, and the general team vibe makes the sport more enjoyable, Lyons said.

“The cross country and track people are very nice and supportive of each other,” Menninger said. “He’s part of a larger group that does it all very well.”

As a senior, Lyons wishes to enjoy this season as much as possible and has several individual and team goals. Along with winning conference, he looks to help the team win its seventh consecu-tive sectional title, which will be held at Bennett Field in May. On a personal level, Lyons hopes to win the 800 meters at state this year, after just missing being all-state (top nine in each event) last year with a 10th place finish by .4 seconds. Lyons will hopefully be all-state in two events this year, Danner said.

“This year I am trying to do all the little things right,” Lyons said. “If I lose by that little margin again, I’ll know that I did what I could.”

Lyons will continue his track and cross country career at American University in Washington, D.C. with a partial scholar-ship for both running and academics.

“He will be successful and happy at that level,” Menninger said.

Boys track eager, optimistic for sectionals, stateTrackTimelineThe boys track team hopes to improve on 2008’s conference and state tournament performances. Here are the first six upcoming competitions.

n Feb. 20 Plainfield Central & Nazareth

n Feb. 28 Proviso West Invite

n March 2 Downers Grove South Invitational

n March 10 Marist & Vernon Hills

n March 13 Proviso West, Conant, & Palatine

n March 20 WSC

Source: Athletics2000.com

Girls track young, but ready

Coming back from a successful regular season and a disappointing state performance, the boys track team is optimistic about the 2009 season. Few losses of varsity runners last year, more intense practices and a deeper and more experienced team should contribute to a successful IHSA state meet and regular season performance.

“We did pretty well last year,” Alex Lyons ’09 said. “We won our sixth straight sectional title in a row and took I think 16 guys to state. We didn’t do as well at state as we wanted. This year the intensity of winter training has gone up for everyone. We’re running more volume and feel this will give us the strength to do well through the end of May.”

The varsity’s experience will be a factor in helping to improve the team’s state performance.

“The biggest thing is that guys will be coming back with experience,” boys track coach Mike Danner said. “The intensity of practices will definitely pick up in the state series. Because of their experience, they will be able to handle these tougher practices.”

In years past, LT boys track has been primarily known as a strong distance team. However, the sprinters, such as Pat Hill ’09, and jumpers this year will add depth to the team that has not been seen recently. This deep and

experienced varsity is the source of the team’s optimism.“We also earned our second consecutive LT Relays

championship,” Hill said. “Our main improvement that we have made within the last two years is our sprinting core. We are known for our distance runners, but our sprinters and jumpers will be strong. We have a good group of guys who train hard all year round. This sprint-ing and jumping core will be stronger than LT has seen in quite some time. We have a lot of experienced guys who have been on varsity since freshman year and know how to get things done. We just need to execute.”

The team hopes to defend its sectional title and to be competitive in its conference, particularly with perennial running power York.

“As a varsity team our main goal is to be an all state team,” Hill said. “We are focusing on doing better than York in conference, which only the seniors have success-fully done in their sophomore year. In this past year our sectional has been changed but we would like nonethe-less to win another sectional title. We also want to do well at big meets such as LT Relays and the Prospect meet. Indoors every meet we just want to get out there and improve. Outdoors we want to be unstoppable.”

The optimism and desire to compete extends to the team’s other athletes.

“I think we’ll come out fighting,” hurdler Karston Anderson ’09 said. “Our conference is really tough; it’s a dog fight at the conference championships. York always has tough competitors. I believe we can pull through.”

by Mike Lyons

Lyons’ experience, competitive nature results in success

Boys track team begins its 2009 season ready to compete, improve from 2008

As the girls track team gathers in the SC fieldhouse every afternoon around 3:30 p.m., one can’t help but notice that there is some-thing missing. The team, which has many run-ners, has a senior class of fewer than 10 mem-bers.

This year’s squad has returned most of its state competitors from last year, but the lean presence of eight seniors - who normally con-tribute most of the leadership on teams where all four grades practice together - would seem to be a significant weakness. Yet, no one on the team seems overly concerned.

“It’s weird that such a small amount of seniors are participating as they were always great leaders as well as someone to look up to,” sprinter and state-level competitor Emma Grimes ’10, said. “I also see it as an opportu-nity for juniors to step up, considering there are so many of us.”

Because of this lack of senior leadership,

coaches are looking for younger team mem-bers to step up and fill the void.

“It’s an opportunity for the juniors to step up and get the feel for leadership so we can continue to grow this year and next year,” former sophomore MVP and middle distance runner Kelsey Kilrea ’10 said.

The fact that the players believe in them-selves is only encouraged by their coaches’ belief in them.

“We have great junior leadership, along with the remaining seniors,” head coach Greg Frandsen said. “We have a lot more experi-enced runners coming back with big meet experience.”

Even if senior leadership, or the lack thereof, does not end up being one of the higher hurdles the team has to surpass, there are still several issues Frandsen would like to see the team address.

“Our strengths are in the middle distance events and relays, but we need to score more points in the field events, along with adding depth to our 1600 and 3200 [meter runs],” Frandsen said. “We should be much better in the long jump and triple jump.”

Improving in these specific areas should help close the significant gap between LT and peren-nial conference powerhouse, Hinsdale Central, Frandsen said.

“I think we have a really strong team this year and each runner has so much potential, so I think that if we all put our best into this season we can do better at the state meet.” Kilrea said. “I think this year we are ready to rise up and meet the challenges handed to us.”

Young girls track team prepared to overcome inexperience

by Tom O’Brien

Lyons runs a leg in the 3200 meter relay at Lewis Univer-sity his sophomore year. That year, Lyons was a part of the state qualifying team in the same relay. He has run the 3200 meter relay all three years in track, as well as the 800 meter run the last two years. photo courtesy of Alex Lyons

Holly Rhode ‘09 runs during the 4x800 meter relay during a Feb. 12 meet hosted by LT at the SC fieldhouse.

Page 11.indd 1 2/17/2009 6:59:09 PM

Friday, February 20, 2009 Page 12

Scores Highlights Profiles

THE PAWS BUTTON

NBA All-Star Game SPORTSLT sends five wrestlers to state

by Nick Miller

The Western Conference handily defeated the East 146-119 on Feb.

15 with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant sharing the MVP title.

Next Friday night, LT will welcome conference rival Hinsdale Central to the

NC Fieldhouse for a boys basketball showdown. For this night only, the Gold

Rush is turning out the lights: wear black. Come out, cheer, chant, help LT get a big W, and be part of LT’s first-ever Blackout.

Afraid of the dark?

ABigGoldJoke

Competitive conference prepares Lions for IHSA state meet

Varsity wrestling coach Griff Powell knew that competing in one of the toughest conferences in the state would pay off eventually. After the Lions finished second in conference to number one in state Oak Park, the team qualified three individuals and two alternates on Satur-day for the state meet—the most ever under Powell and the most for LT since the 2003 season, when six made the grade. And Powell attributes much of the success to the caliber of competition they faced week to week in the conference.

“This is the first year in my time at LT that the con-ference has been so tough,” Powell, who took over head coaching duties in 2004 from Mark King, said. “It makes us better in the long run. Every Friday [meet] is a test. We are better prepared now for the state tournament because of that kind of competition week in and out.”

Mike Ryan ‘09 led the way for the LT wrestlers at the De La Salle Sectional with a second place finish in the 152 pound weight class. Bob Gavrick ’10 and Drew Bates ’11 both finished fourth at 103 pounds and 130 pounds respectively, high enough to qualify for the state meet. Matt Nora ’11 placed fifth at pounds as did RJ Dilcher at 145 pounds, making them alternates. The top four finish-ers at each weight class in the four 3A sectionals earned a state berth, while the fifth place finishers are alternates.

“We wrestled against Oak Park in conference and they were also in the same regional as we were,” Dilcher said. “We saw a lot of guys before hand, and so we were familiar with them. Many of these guys will be wrestling at the state meet, and just to have wrestled against them before has really helped.”

LT failed to qualify anyone for state last year and had only one qualifier in 2007. Not since 2006 has an LT wrestler won a state match. Anthony Castillo ’00 was the last wrestler to win an individual state champion-ship—in 2000 at 152 lbs. Powell believes this group will have more success than those of the last few years simply based on their mindsets.

“We have a great group of kids this year,” Powell said. “They have put so much work in the off-season and have been training for this for a long time, and things are start-

ing to click for them. This group knows that they can compete [with the top kids in the state] and they want to place in the state tournament. They aren’t just happy being there, and it’s exciting with a group like that.”

Though both Powell and Dilcher stated that winning the conference was a goal, they agreed that gaining expe-rience by wrestling such a tough conference schedule was more important long term. In fact, LT is planning to make its schedule even tougher in the future by enhanc-ing the early season competition—all in the hopes of bet-tering themselves for state.

“It would have been nice to win the conference, but our goal all year has been to peak in February,” Dilcher said. “We want to be wrestling our best come the state tournament and end up being successful at state.”

The individual state meet, which takes place at Assembly Hall on the University of Illinois-Champaign campus, begins today with the preliminary rounds and will conclude tomorrow with the championships at each weight class.

John Windmoeller ‘11 and Jack Pearson ‘12 execute a hold during a recent wrestling practice. The Lions qualified five athletes to compete at the state meet. Megan Bannister

TopTeams

LT is currently ranked 15th in state for wrestling. Here are the top ten teams in Illinois.

1. Oak Park River Forest

2. Minooka

3. Providence

4. Lockport

5. Neuqua Valley

6. Plainfield Central

7. Glenbard North

8. Rockton Hononegah

9. Libertyville

10. Lincoln-Way Central

Source: Illinois Matmen website

Proviso West was slipping away from LT’s boys basketball team late in a game earlier this season when Justin Phipps ‘10 caught a pass at the top of the key. Sensing opportu-nity like a wily entrepreneur, Phipps – the team’s 6-4 rebounding machine – gathered himself, sailed past frozen Proviso defenders with two power-ful dribbles, elevated, and – before anyone could say “Hey, he’s about to unleash a hellacious, backboard-shak-ing dunk!” – unleashed a hellacious, backboard-shaking dunk. It was awe-some. (And that’s about as eloquently as I can put it, sorry.)

Pounding his chest and holler-ing indecipherables to the heavens, Phipps had given his team (and the decently-sized Fieldhouse crowd) a shot in the arm. The adrenaline was palpable. Proviso – big, baaad Pro-viso – looked a shade intimidated. (I repeat: it was awesome.)

I’d like to tell you Phipps’ slam ignited an LT comeback that night. I’d also like to tell you LT’s student section seized control of the game, capitalizing on the adrenaline, chant-ing and cheering like madmen ‘til the final whistle, assisting the blue and gold in claiming a huge conference W … all of it culminating in a rowdy celebration on the court and tons of high-fives and back-slaps for Phipps.

But LT lost by 14. The Gold Rush made a few half-hearted stabs at “de-fense!” and nothing more. This brazen indifference was nothing new, though. If anything, it was expected.

In ‘08-’09, LT has witnessed the extinction of I-bleed-blue-and-gold diehards and seen them replaced by a miserable batch of unapologetically apathetic juniors and seniors. Y’know, kids more concerned with Bobby’s after-the-game party than the atro-cious officiating or Kevin Muld-owney’s ‘09 latest nasty finish. Guess I missed the whole “School spirit? Who even cares!” announcement. Or something.

To cheer after a big defensive stand is to incur scathing “Is that really necessary?” glances from the muted onlookers surrounding you. To attempt a chant – even one so unoriginal as “We are (clapclap) LT!” – is to risk eye-rolls and irritated sighs. Heckle a referee or opposing player, and you may earn a nickname from those to your left and right; something real creative, like “The Kid Who Actually Cares.” Support-ing the team? Totally embarrassing. Just silently glance at the scoreboard every so often like the rest of us, OK? By the way, what are we doing after this? Bobby’s?

If you don’t plan on chanting or cheering, don’t plan on coming. If you don’t plan on wearing gold, don’t plan on standing anywhere near the front row. If you don’t plan on offer-ing the bald ref Rogaine four to six times a quarter, don’t plan on evading this type of criticism. Good? Great. So glad we could clear this up.

Next Friday night, Hinsdale Cen-tral will pay LT a visit. Central has a junior guard named John Whitelaw. He’s the star quarterback, the golden boy … the Hinsdalean Hercules. Your mission? Give him nightmares. Chant, cheer, heckle. Be creative. Turn up the freakin’ volume. Anything.

But Hinsdale’s kids will probably out-cheer LT’s, as is typical, even in spite of the much-anticipated Blackout. At least the new color will be fitting.

Black, to mourn a lost cause.

Alex Lyons, American University

Washington, D.C.

Cross Country, Track

Projected major: Literature

Peter Bruton, Boston

College

Boston, Massachusetts

Swimming

Projected major: Biology

Mike Janusek, Loyola University Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

Cross Country, Track

Projected major: Undecided

Jack Hostettler, Saint Louis University

St. Louis, Missouri

Cross Country, Track

Projected major: Advertising

Joe Hladik, University of Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

Swimming

Projected major: Physical Therapy

Pat Weigand, University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

Swimming

Projected major: Engineering

Matt Lakis, Drake University

Des Moines, Iowa

Football

Projected major: Secondary Education

Brenten Blakeman, University of Dayton

Dayton, Ohio

Golf

Projected major: Business

Amanda Boskovich, Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio

Hockey

Projected major: Business

NCAA BoundLION takes a look across the country to see

where LT’s most prestigious senior athletes will be headed to play NCAA Division-I athletics.

Tripp Stelnicki

Source: LT student athletes

Page 12.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:00:02 PM

PULSEThe Voice of Lyons Township Students Since 1910

Friday, February 20, 2009 Volume 99, Issue 5

Dinner and a MovieLION reviews Hollywood Boulevard, a theatre that serves dinner along with a feature presentation. Get Out, 20

Profiles, 15

North Campus 100 S. Brainard Avenue La Grange, Ill. 60525 South Campus 4900 Willow Springs Road Western Springs, lll. 60558

Ancient artifactAn 8-year-old community member makes an exciting artifact find. Read about the LT connection.

A Day in the Life

Behind the Scenes, 16-17

LION went behind the scenes and shadowed multiple school employees,

including Ray Monroe (above), to better understand their jobs.

$$$

$

$$

DINING OUT

El Faro

Lucca’s

Vie

In light of the failing economy, the opportunity to eat out seems to be disappearing. LION decided to

recommend three local restaurants: one cheap, one moderately priced and one expensive.

Set in familiar downtown Western Springs, Vie is anything but familiar. With a main room that brings a touch of eclectic glamour, Vie has all the class of a down-town restaurant with the convenience of a suburban locale. Though French in name, Vie offers a wide variety of food from a seasonally inspired menu that emphasizes locally produced products.

The staff at Vie defines amiable, offering to take our coats the instant we walked in the door. The waitress, though a bit overly

persistent, was knowledgeable of the menu and our glasses were never empty.

While the main entrance room func-tions mainly as a bar and lounge, the L-shaped main room boasts numerous cozy tables, ideal for close conversation.

Keep in mind, Vie is not for those looking for a cheap dinner out. While the quality of the food is unparalleled, the portions are on the small side, though such is typical of a fine dining experience. Also, the prices are unusually high for a suburban spot, with entrees ranging from $27-40 per plate.

The “seared yellowfin tuna, new potatoes, salt-cured olives, pickled green beans, radishes, hard-cooked egg” ($16) may sound extravagant, but the elegant appetizer was an excellent indication of

the meals to follow. The “21 day aged dietzler farm beef tasting: wood-grilled steak, fried meatloaf, braised beef tomato ragout, coltri family potatoes, pickled arti-chokes, parmigiano-reggiano” ($35) can be more simply defined as a “steak sampler,” however the quality far surpasses any beef from Applebees or Lonestar. The “local pork combination: wood-grilled loin, accompanied by slow-cooked fresh bacon, ‘macaroni and cheese,’ werp farm kale, cipollini aigre-doux, raspberry jam” ($30) was an interesting combination, but the chef’s sophisticated mac-and-cheese was sheer brilliance.

Finally, the dessert of “chocolate bri-oche bread pudding, candied hazlenuts, preserved strawberries, drumgray high-land cream liquor ice cream” ($9) was the

Located at 6136 S Archer Rd. in Summit, El Faro offers delicious and gener-ous helpings of Mexican food for nominal prices. When viewed from the outside, the shabby building may evoke reactions such as “Wait, is this really it?” While it is easy to pass this restaurant without a second glance, the reasonable prices and huge por-tions of food overshadow this restaurant’s surroundings and appearance.

Pros: quality meals, unique atmosphereCons: price, small dining room

While the quality of the ingredients may not be as high as other local Mexi-can restaurants, such as Chipotle, the quantity of food is much larger and is offered at a much lower cost than the competition.

The sign above the restaurant reads “El Faro, The House of the Giant Bur-rito.” This sign preaches the truth. The burritos, which are made on an order-by-order basis, include tomatoes, your choice of meat, cheese, lettuce and beans, are roughly the same size and weight of a newborn baby. If you accompany this magnificent monster with a soft drink, your meal will cost you a measly $5.78. El Faro also offers a wide variety of fla-

vored drinks in addition to typical soft drinks like RC or 7Up. One burrito will almost always be more than enough to fill you up.

When you enter the restaurant, there is typically a line of two to three people during the day, but at night the line can reach out of the door. Because the restau-rant is a fairly small size, many customers take their food to go.

If you do choose to stay and sit in a booth, there is a jukebox that offers a wide variety of Mexican and rap music. El Faro’s back room offers pool tables and larger tables if your group is too large to fit comfortably in the booths. Eating at El Faro after 10 p.m. is not recommended;

At Lucca’s Ristorante, the dining experi-ence resonates of European flair, with its café ambience and antiqued accents. The combination of a cozy dining room and hearty meals provides the ideal spot for high schoolers to spend a reasonable sum on Ital-ian dishes.

Upon entering the pizzeria, the warm lighting and close-knit tables offer the invit-ing feeling that most European establish-ments thrive on. With bricks on either side

most unique item—resembling an under-cooked brownie—which, surprisingly, was almost too much to finish after what appeared to be a petite meal.

While the menu’s wording may be confusing enough to raise a few eye-brows, after some clever decoding—with aid from the “Menu Glossary”—the meals are worth the effort and price.

by Mike Lyons

of the dining room, there is a sense of dining in one of those hidden treasures that only the locals are familiar with.

The meals include pizza, pasta, salads and sandwiches, and each category has its own relative price range.

While there are the standard pasta dishes, some of the more eccentric ones prove to be quite delicious. Shrimp Arrabbiata and Fusilli & Sun-Dried Tomato both deviate from the usual plates that high school students order, but both blend common ingredients into unexpectedly tasty dishes. The use of fresh items such as baby broccoli and fresh tomatoes adds a refreshing taste to the pasta dishes, which cost anywhere between $10 to $15.

For pizza lovers, Lucca’s offers many options, including thin crust, Sicilian style, pan, stuffed and calzones Almost all of them have different price and size ranges, but all fulfill a craving for a variety of ingredients and a flavorsome sauce.

The ristorante is just open for dinner, meaning customers can only partake in the Lucca’s dining experience at night. Although the combination of the night-time skies and restaurant’s soft lights add to the atmosphere, it would be a nice alternative to dine there for lunch.

Since it is only open at night, Lucca’s is a good choice for dinner with a few friends or family members. The dining room hosts eight tables, most of them set

up for two and a few of them have seating for four. As a result of the limited seating arrangements, dining in small groups is the best choice.

For a dinner that costs a little more than the average high school budget, Luc-ca’s supplies a European getaway of satis-fying meals and a welcoming atmosphere.

by Katie Schoder

by Elizabeth Pierson

Pros: good food for cheap pricesCons: long lines at night

Pros: cozy ambience, ideal meal sizesCons: small dining room, hours open

the line is usually much longer, and the other patrons are not quite as friendly as during the day.

El Faro offers a casual dining experi-ence with huge quantities of food for nominal costs.

Page 13.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:00:58 PM

0

20

40

60

80

100

MINORITYFriday, February 20, 2009 n Page 14

In the 2008 PSAE test at LT, 79% of Caucasian students met or exceeded state standards, as

compared to 24% of African American students.

“There is no single silver bullet to address the issue,” Van Clay said. “We have identified the problem, now we must identify the solutions.”

Superindentent says Gap stats

I N O R I T YBelow is the breakdown of race at LT in percentages, according to Interac-

tive Illinois Report Card (iirc.niu.edu). The numbers are based on the 2007-2008 school year, with a total population of 3,840 students.

In Illinois, the gap between Cauca-sian and African American students’ state mandated test results is one of the highest in the nation according to a 2005 study by The Achievement Alliance.

While some progress has been made to close the achievement gap between Cau-casian and minority students, the achieve-ment gap remains an issue both at the state and national level. It also remains an issue for the Board of Education (BOE) of District 102.

One and a half years ago, the Dist. 102 BOE made addressing the minor-ity achievement gap one of its goals and formed a work group to take on the issue. In December 2008, the work group became a more permanent Minority Achievement Steering Committee, created to oversee the implementation of the work group’s plans, District Superintendent Mark Van Clay said.

A result of the steering committee was a community forum, which took place on Jan. 22 at Park Junior High School entitled “A Conversation on Race and Achieve-ment.” The presentation was open to par-ents, faculty and community members where data collected from both the Illinois State Achievement Tests (ISATs) and Fall Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) illustrated the achievement gap between minority and majority students. After the presentation the attendees then broke into small groups where they addressed three big questions: what programs already exist that are helping minority students learn, what impediments exist and suggestions for improvement, Van Clay said.

As Dist. 102 is an associate district, or feeder district, to LTHS, the presentation and initiative affect LT as well, African American liaison Nikita Hulbert said. Hulbert also serves as the LT Representa-tive for the Minority Achievement Steer-ing Committee.

“Kids who have had past achievement

A group of Irish dancers perform at the 2007 Diversity Assembly. The Irish dancers are just one of the many groups that work to create the variety at the assembly. This year’s assembly will take place on Mar. 13, 2009 at both campuses.

Q: Where and when will the assembly be held?A: Friday March 13, 2009. It is held at both campuses in the

field houses, North Campus in the morning and South Campus in the afternoon.

Q: How many acts are being performed?A: There are currently nine groups performing.

Q: Is the participation this year, more or less than usual? Why do you think that is the case?

A: The participation is all the same groups from the 2007 Diversity Assembly. However, we have one additional per-former, an Italian Opera singer from the Lyric Opera of Chi-cago. We also lost one performance, the Korean Fan Dance, because all of the participating students graduated.

Q: LT alternates years between holding the Diversity Assembly and the Black History Month Assembly. Why do you feel it is important to expose students to both of these topics?

A: I think it is important to have these assemblies so that students and interested groups can share culture and the diversity that exists at LT with the entire school.

Diversity Assembly FAQs

Bridging minority achievement gap

Although the Latino Dance Troupe has been in existence for more than seven years, its ultimate goal of creating friendships and learning opportunities for its members is one goal of the club that has remained the same.

Latino Dance Troupe is a club that allows students to get a taste of various Latino rooted cultures. By perform-ing meringue, bachata, salsa, cumbia and even folkloric dancing, students immerse themselves in customs that come from Latino countries all over the world.

“We like to expose and show how diverse Hispanic background is,” Aurora Colon, Latino Dance Troupe advisor, said. “There are many people who think of Hispanic as being Mexican or Puerto Rican, but it’s a combination of Spanish speaking countries.”

The Latino Dance Troupe’s annual performances include LT’s Diversity Assembly, this year on March 13, as well as its Mother’s Day dinner. The dinner pro-vides an opportunity for parents to view their children in a different light, Colon said.

“Last year when they did the Mexican Hat dance the parents were really glad to see something they grew up with,” Colon said. “It’s important to make sure parents know what their [kids] are doing.”

“It’s more than a club, we are a family in a way,” Yesenia Rodriguez ’09 said. “It’s not only dance. We get together and by combining those things we become more united. It shows in the dances because we’re always having fun.”

In an effort to create a relaxed atmosphere, Colon allows students to start practice with a period of free-style, where members of the club choose the music and dance moves they use.

“It’s not all structured dance,” Colon said. “It’s a club. The purpose is to have fun. The basic point is to learn how to dance. Latin music is what you feel.”

There are many members of the Latino Dance Troupe, and all have different reasons for being a part of this culturally orientated club. Some simply enjoy dancing with friends, while others believe it allows them to be a part of something rewarding.

“It gives us an opportunity to be ourselves, and it helps us to learn something new,” Natalie Lopez ’10 said. “You get to learn dances, then perform them. It’s a really great feeling.”

Students dance, create family

difficulties have achievement problems at LT,” Hulbert said. “Research shows that programs struggling with reading and math can identify problems in the primary grades. If these problems are addressed at the elementary schools, then we can target the issues at that time and each child has a greater chance for success.”

While LT has no immediate plans to host a similar community conversation, minority achievement has always been an ongoing priority at LT, Curriculum Direc-tor Scott Eggerding said. One example is the recent goal setting “Mental Karate” program brought to LT by author Mawi Asgedom.

“Everyone is a stakeholder,” Eggerding said of minority achievement. “We try to do whatever it takes to give students the tools to achieve.”

For now, goals for Dist. 102 and LT include working on initiatives and cur-riculum issues. The steering committee for Dist. 102 will look at the results from the conversation and set targets and goals specifically for this year and next year to address tangible goals, Van Clay said.

“There is no one particular solution [to the minority achievement gap],” Hulbert said. “It is a complex problem as a result of many variables and must be tackled from many angles.”

LT Feeder District 102 confronts achievement gap Latino Dance Troupe members aim to

experience Latino culture

LION asks Gina Wutke, International Club Sponsor, questions about the

upcoming Diversity Assembly

Report

10.1

83.5

2.4 2.3 1.6 0.1

Hispanic

African American

Multiracial

Asian

(0.1% Native American)

by Monica Ramirez

by Marney Coleman

Q: Who plans the assembly?A: International Club coordinates the Diversity Assembly.

The Black History Month Assembly has a different sponsor. Q: When does preparation start? How many hours

are spent planning before the Assembly? What work is required to organize the assembly?

A: We started preparing for the Assembly in December. International Club spends countless hours preparing, we have an advertising/decoration committee, a trivia and logo contest committee, and some of our students are MCs for the assem-bly.

Q: What is the purpose of this assembly?A: To share and express diversity.

Q: Who started the assembly and why did they start it?

A: I think Olga Boutov was the previous sponsor, who did this assembly, as she was the sponsor of Faces of LT (that club no longer exists). I am not sure who the original creator of this assembly was.

Q: How long have you been involved with the Diversity Assembly? What motivates you to keep up with it?

A: I have been the sponsor of International Club for four years now and this is my second Diversity Assembly. I am moti-vated to continue with this because the students are passion-ate about it and I think it is important to celebrate diversity. LION file photo

compiled by Carrie Mulderink

Caucasian

Page 14.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:06:46 PM

PROFILESFriday, February 20, 2009 Page 15

LION asked Myles Emmons ’10 about winning first place for his original

composition at the Illinois Music Edu-cators Competition.

Q A&

Eight-year-old discovers important ancient spear point

compiled by Alyssa Marie Harn

Chris Azzarello, 8, found this spear point made by the Clovis people in his school’s backyard. Kelly Bastyr

Teacher aides student in archaeological find

by Lena Novak

Clovis cultureEvidence of the ancient Clovis culture in North Amer-

ica dates back to the end of the last glacial period, which is believed to be 13,000 calendar years ago.

Musical aspirationsMyles Emmons ‘10 hopes to major in composition in a music conservatory after he graduates from LT next Spring, and eventually wants to be a film composer.

Phone: 708-354-6661Fax: 708-354-6666

www.chalorflowers.com6960 S. Wolf Rd.

26 S. LaGrange Rd. #100LaGrange, IL 60525(708)-579-3033www.ceramicartcafe.com

Mon.-Fri. 12:00-9:00 PMSat. 10:00 AM-5:00 PM

After looking for rocks in the backyard of Trinity Lutheran School for a school nature activity, Chris Azzarello, 8, found an interesting rock. His teacher thought nothing of the rock, but Azzarello liked it enough to bring it home.

“My brother was pretty excited and I thought it was pretty cool,” Matt Azza-rello ’11 said.

Matt brought the rock to school for extra credit where Brian Bardy, paraeducator, classified it as a spear point from the Clovis people based on specific details.

“I was totally thrilled beyond belief of what Matt brought in,” Bardy said.

On the spear tip there is basal grind-ing and fluting, two key characteristics in denoting Clovis spear points.

The Clovis were some of the first people to inhabit North American territory. They relied on hunting and gathering to survive and known to have been a mobile group.

Matt allowed Bardy to examine the spear

point. Several months later, Matt along with his mother and younger brother went with Bardy to the site where the spear point was found, Bardy said. There, he surveyed the area using a GPS handheld and filed a site report with the Illinois Archaeological Survey at the Illinois State Museum.

The spear point was not buried deep in the ground. Chris found it lying in the midst of a pile of other rocks, Matt said.

When Bardy submitted his report, he supplied a map of the artifact’s location along with line drawings of the artifact showing the chipping pattern.

Eventually the spear point will be donated to a local museum.

For the past 30 years, Bardy has worked as a local archaeologist and historian. This isn’t the first artifact that he has helped to discover in the area, Bardy said. His other finds include other spear points, pottery and a 17th century French coin found in La Grange in 1996.

While Matt chooses to refrain from archeological explorations, Chris continues to look for more artifacts in his area, as it is a hobby he continually enjoys, Matt said.

Free association with...Melinda Edwards,

District switchboard operator and PA announcer

Q: What do you do as the LT district switchboard operator?A: I direct every call that comes into LT to the right place.

Q: Weirdest thing to happen to you at LT?A: When we all got sent home on the first day of school two years ago because of a power outage. I think that’s the first time that’s happened in LT history.

Q: Future plans?A: To make the 50 year mark of employment at LT. The current record is 43 and I’m already at 27—might as well go all the way!

Q: Place you would choose to live if it could be any-where in the world?A: Wisconsin. I grew up spending my summer vacations there. I love Wisconsin; it’s become my second home.

Q: Favorite holiday?A: Christmas because I love to see all the little kids light up.

Q: Biggest pet peeve?A: Pants hanging low.

Q: Last song you heard?A: A song by Kenny Chesney—not sure which one, though.

compiled by Kate Stephens

Q: What was going through your mind when you found out that you were the first place winner in the IMEA competition?A: I was really excited to be the top composer in Illinois for the high school category.

Q: What competition did you win?A: I won the Avant Garde category. The piece I com-posed is titled “Breathing through the Five Basses and Drum (Butoh a violent calm).”

Q: What did you do at the IMEA All State Confer-ence?A: I went to the Honors Showcase, which features the first place winners for compostition. I recorded all of the parts of my composition separately on my com-puter and my composition was played at the festival.

Q: What instruments do you play? A: Piano, cello, bass, bass guitar, drums, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, guitar and accordion.

Q: How long did it take you to compose this piece?A: Two hours.

Q: What inspired you to compose this piece?A: A video I saw online of a Japanese dancer.

Q: If an artist were to take your composition and add lyrics to it, who would you want to perform the piece?A: Bjork; I think she is the only one that would perform it successfully.

photo courtesy Myles Emmons

76 S. LaGrange Rd.LaGrange, IL60525(708) 352-9111

Lisa’s SpecialsHighlights, color, haircuts & updo’s

Page 15.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:07:52 PM

Super SodexhoSodexho, LT’s food service company, has created the Sodexho Foun-dation, which supports programs and initiatives to stop hunger. Some

of these include job training and nuitrition education.

What’s in a name?While commonly referred to as “security guards,” the uniformed

personnel throughout the school are officially called “student assistants.”

Familiar faceStudents may recognize locksmith Ray Monroe from the tradi-

tional Native American tribal dance that he has performed in the past for the Diversity Assembly and for specific classes.

BEHIND THE SCENESFriday, February 20, 2009 Pages 16 and 17

Do your dutySome of Ed Piotrowski’s duties as NC Associate Principal include

scheduling classes for students and teachers, organizing the busing system and coordinating summer school.

If a student is unable to spot LT’s res-ident locksmith Ray Monroe coming down the hall by his distinctive long hairstyle or warm smile, he or she will likely recognize the jingle-jangle of his signature keys. While most people carry around a key ring of five or six keys, Monroe’s ring is weighed down by an impressive 176. But these 176 keys are only a few of the hundreds Monroe uses every day—the “most important ones,” he said. In total, he has eight key rings loaded down with 200-300 keys on each.

Although the number of keys Monroe has is incredible, even more remarkable is his ability to know which key goes in each door without even looking. It is almost like a sixth sense: Monroe is able to magically retrieve the correct key out of the mass of metal on the first try—every time.

As a locksmith, Monroe makes, labels and delivers keys; picks jammed lockers, file cabinets and doors; changes locker combos; and even repairs electronic locks. He has a worn book crammed with pages and pages of his tiny, neat print. Monroe calls this his “Locksmith Bible”—it is full of the codes to each of the keys, which he already has memorized. The hundreds of codes, which distinguish the lock that each key is matched to, are second nature to Monroe; anyone else would struggle to comprehend this foreign “locksmith language.”

Monroe has been in charge of all of LT’s locks and doors for 29 years, ever since his father, who also worked at LT, helped him get the job in 1980. But Monroe’s interest in keys was sparked long before that time. After his father installed a new lock on their garage door, 8-year-old Monroe resorted to using a bent paperclip to successfully pick the lock and retrieve his bike. Even as a child, he did not rely on sophisticated tools. Now he is a certified locksmith with the Locksmithing Institute of America and is also a member of Associated Locksmiths of America.

Monroe is undoubtedly an unsung hero of LT. Waking up as early as 1 a.m. to get to work, he is deeply committed to his job. Moreover, Monroe’s contributions to LT extend far beyond his role as the school’s only locksmith. As a Native American, Monroe has also educated numerous classes about Native American culture and per-formed authentic Native American dances for the entire school at the Diversity Assem-bly. In the past, Monroe has also helped the Art Department, posing with his Harley motorcycle for students to draw.

From his unmatched locksmith skills to his Native American performances, Monroe works tirelessly to better the school both from behind the scenes and center stage.

Sometime around 4:30 a.m. the morning after Super Bowl XLIII, Ed Piotrowski’s young daughter was enduring a bit of early-morning crankiness. A big Cardinals fan, one can assume.

As I apprehensively tiptoed through a somewhat forgotten doorway, after only a few steps, I found myself in an entirely different atmosphere than the normal NC building. While most other LT students were in class on Feb 3, 2009, I was shadowing the cafeteria employees to learn more of what they do all day.

After a few offbeat seconds of the difference in atmosphere, the confusion cleared to reveal Marcy Lingo, head of the NC cafeteria. Immediately she led me around the corner and into her office, where I dropped off my backpack. I introduced myself as did she, before she handed me my uniform: a chocolate brown hairnet.

I was led to the south side of the kitchen, where two industrious employees greeted me: the cook and the assistant cook. Both courteously flashed me a smile and a name as they hastily got back to their work.

I felt like a Slytherin in the Hufflepuff house, completely out of place and in the way. Cinematic productions did not do these ladies’ routine one bit of justice; just watching them I grew tired. Every time I thought I had found a safe haven to observe, I realized I was merely an obstacle to maneuver around to get to what they needed (of course, their patience with me was bottomless). The preciseness of their routine astounded me, along with their vitality.

After a few minutes, it was time for their single 10 minute break, during which Lingo graciously gave me a tour of the entire cafeteria. As she spoke, I couldn’t help but notice the apparent effort to bring a more healthful twist into their array of options. Of course, I especially took note of the heavenly corner in which hundreds of those melt-in-your-mouth golden brown chocolate chip cookies were stored.

Lingo then led me back to the teachers’ lounge in which the 11 cafeteria ladies were taking their break. After viewing them seated all at one table, My immediate impres-sion was that of a Thanksgiving dinner- one big happy family seated with each other in contentment.

After their break, one such employee, Irene Grzesik, was gracious enough to let me follow her around like a lost puppy. As the students noisily flooded in, she filled me in on what goes on behind the serving counter, all the while working the cash register and meeting the students’ needs.

These ladies have all been together for years. They all share the same woes, and all have shoulders to lean on. While each and every one could easily choose another profession, none of them have an ounce of desire to do so. They’re a team, they always have been, and they always will be.

by Alex Butler

But she only needed a little extra TLC, and the North Campus Associate Principal handled her a.m. issues like a pro. Piotrowski lost an hour of sleep – he typically wakes as his alarm strikes 5:30 – but his is a rigorous schedule, and not one for the faint of heart or snooze button-inclined. No time to fret over sacrificed Zs. Having sufficiently settled his daugh-ter, he’s out his door at six and through LT’s a shade before seven – each and every day, daughter-related duties notwithstanding.

Once in his office, Piotrowski – in his second year as an Associate Principal and ninth at LT over-all – tears into his typical routine. His initial respon-sibility involves monitoring the master schedule and assuring its readiness. Piotrowski is cognizant of every class and every teacher’s location; he also keeps a handle on students’ schedule changes and updates.

This Monday, Piotrowski dropped in on a math class, just for the heck of it. There was no formal review sheet to fill out, nor was there any manda-tory report in need of filing. Piotrowski will sporadi-cally slip into the back of a classroom with no pre-

I am sure we have all seen the student assistants standing around the school. We may not know what their names are, but we know they are there. The stu-dent assistants at LT are just like the police; they wear blue and they are concerned about the well-being of a population. Police guards are there to protect and

ensure the safety of the community, just as the stu-dent assistants are here to watch over and assist the entire student body. After spending a day with a stu-dent assistant, I have seen how large a role they play for maintaining the environment that exists at LT.

It takes a lot of energy to be a student assistant. The only time we remained sedentary was when we were at the front desk. At this station, Tom Kazda screened the incoming visitors and answered the phone, while I discovered that the front desk is a great opportunity to people-watch. There are so many people coming in and out of the school, and it is the job of the student assistant to see each face and be sure that no one is coming in who is not supposed to. Everyone seemed to know Kazda and waved to him on their way by; I felt like I was sitting at the cool kids’ lunch table.

Monitoring the lunch periods is another signifi-cant part of a student assistant’s day. Kazda said that this year has been a great year concerning appropri-ate lunch room behavior. If everybody goes by the rules, his job is pleasant and everyone is able to enjoy lunch in a clean and friendly environment.

Although their schedule remains pretty routine, one cannot be quite sure what will happen. We could be patrolling the halls and finding spare change on the floor when suddenly a voice could start speaking

through Kazda’s headpiece. We would have to take off at lightening speed to sort out the situation. The stu-dent assistants must have lungs of steel because I was constantly out of breath each time we had to hurry to a new location.

Kazda, like all student assistants, frequently gets called to deal with problems. Although the vast major-ity of students comply with the rules, there are some who act out. When this situation occurs, Kazda and the assistant principals work together to calmly solve the problem. Along with this, the duties of a student assistant are vast and multitudinous. Whether it is deal-ing with a theft report, doing crowd control at a packed school event or greeting the students every morning, a student assistant is always there to help.

Students feel free to go up to them and ask them a question, or to politely wave to them as they walk past. It is important for student assistants to maintain a posi-tive rapport with the students. They are like the watch-dogs for the students, ensuring that that students may have an environment that is healthy and conducive to learning. After spending a day with Kazda, I have truly gained appreciation for all that the student assistants do for our school and the students.

The head cook arrives and pre-pares breakfast for the students

and teachers

6 amCafetria serves students break-

fast

7:20 amAll other

NC cafeteria employees have

arrived.

9:30 amLunch break

1:10-1:30 pm

Behind the Scenes

10:36-1:05Lunch is served.

After each period, food is replenished

and dishes are washed

1:45-2 pmCafeteria employees

leave school.

Short staff meet-ing to discuss

problems from previous day and name any special groups or special events of the day

7:45 am

Staff front desk, screen incoming

visitors and answer phone

8:45 amTake post in East hall (entrance to middle café) and watch student lunch lines and

enforce appropri-ate behavior

10:30 am

Patrol the hallways, be sure all students are

where they are sup-posed to be and enforce

school’s rules and regula-tions

Afternoon

Leave LT4 pm7 am

Mr. Piotrowski enters LT

1 pmRun to get lunch as

lunch lines close

5 pmLeaves LT

text, simply observing for observation’s sake. Intermittently, Piotrowski tends to his voice and

e-mail. Updates, often involving teacher absences or substitute information, are sent to him over the course of the day. This particular Monday, Piotrowski skips lunch. It’s more common for him to eat late – around, say, three – or, if time doesn’t allow for it, he won’t eat at all. Busy guy. But if you happen to see him hustling down to a lunchline to grab an 8th period snack, forgive him.

Piotrowski’s average afternoon involves working on long-term projects or meetings. Presently on his plate are two issues: first, arena registration is underway, and the task of assembling the ’09-’10 schedule will soon be thrust upon Piotrowski’s desk along with those of the division chairs; second, graduation and issues involving seating charts and other ceremony-related things.

Piotrowski usually aims for a 4:30-5 p.m. departure, pending meetings. Before he leaves, though, he checks his reports one final time, doing a little early prep for tomorrow’s master schedule. Always prepared.

He’s home soon afterwards. Hopefully the daughter’s a little cheerier by now.

Feel like you know EVERYONE at LT? Ever wonder what happens each day to make LT run? LION delves into the lives of four hardworking LT employees who you may have never met and explores their daily activities in depth.

Ray MonroeLocksmith

by Meg Vertovec

Clock out2:30 pm

Irene Grzesik

Ed Piotrowski

Tom KazdaNC Cafeteria Employee

NC Associate Principal

Student Assistant

5 amArrives and

begins with work orders marked

“priority”

10 amObserve random classrooms in the

morning

10:30 pmMake keys, label keys and change

lightbulbs

by Tripp Stelnicki

by Katie Palmer

Special Investigation:

TRUCK.indd 1 2/18/2009 12:13:14 PM

Page 18.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:01:46 PM

CONFLICTFriday, February 20, 2009 Page 19

Egyptian effortIn December 2008, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry

began accepting donations and aid from any donor for Palestinians engaged in Gaza Strip affairs.

Gaza the GreatAround 50 B.C., Gaza reached its peak of civiliza-

tion under Roman rule, with leading theologians and exports matching those of England and Ireland.

LIONThe voice of Lyons Township Students since 1910

Look for the first Lion Newspaper website at www.lionnewspaper.com

The website provides: up-to-date news extra photos additional coverage

Palestine, Israel fight for Gaza territory

by Marnie Georges

Tensions are high yet again in the Middle East as fighting has commenced between the nations of Israel and Palestine. They are fighting over the territory of Gaza. The Israelis feel it is their land; however, the Palestinians currently have control of the territory. Democratic elections recently placed members of the terrorist organization Hamas in power.

Many people in Israel are angered by these elections. Missile attacks have been sent from both sides, with Pal-estine receiving aid from Egypt, and Israel maintaining a forceful retaliation. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has maintained strict border controls around Gaza as a result, so life has become difficult for people needing to pass through the territory. Both nations have been harmed due to the fighting.

There is a great deal of tension attached to the conflict, partially due to the feelings of the nations.

“Israel is only 60 years old—not nearly as old as Russia, Poland or other nations—it’s not even an era of a human life,” Sarah*, who visited Israel for several months, said. “It is an intense fight because Israel doesn’t seem permanent.”

Many people feel that the Israeli reaction may be too harsh, citing the disparities between the original attacks by Palestine and the retaliation by Israel and the IDF.

“Israel should want and has the right to stop rocket attacks, but the disproportionate level of force used is not good for Israel,” Sociology teacher Thomas Swiontek said. “Missile attacks by Hamas in Israel have not caused a portion of the damage caused in Palestine and this breeds greater resentment and risk to Israeli security in the long run.”

Some have conflicting views regarding the actions taken on both sides, since the violence has taken so large of a toll on both nations.

“I think it is safe to say that even though Israel has every right to defend itself, its conduct at the moment is question-able at best,” Nate Johnson ’10, who is Jewish, said. “It needs to clean up its act before real progress can be made.”

The plight of the people is the focus of many, since inno-cent civilians on both sides are suffering.

“I feel like the Israelis have overreacted,” Joyce Cassel, former American Studies teacher who visited Palestine, said.

“For 18 months, the people in Gaza have received very limited food, cooking oils and medical supplies, so there is a high level of frustration there. America doesn’t report that part. There are very few entry points into Gaza and Israel hasn’t permit-ted goods to go in. People have had the bare minimum for 18 months. I don’t agree with Hamas and the rockets, but every-one must understand the people.”

Visitors to Israel had many reactions to the nation, citing its desire to remain normal in spite of the war.

“[Israel] is a welcoming country and something I found while there was the overwhelming amount of patriotism,” Stephanie “Mimi” Yong ’08, who visited Israel, said. “This is a country that is small in size, but large in heart and force.”

Visitors to Palestine had a very different experience, seeing the effects of war firsthand.

“Palestinians on the West Bank are also suffering and they have an increased number of checkpoints where an Israeli guard decides if they can go through or not,” Cassel said. “Some days they can, some days they can’t—it is all up to the guard. Some days children are not permitted to go to school. Palestinians are gracious, hospitable and very good people who are really suffering. These are all hardships among the people—Gaza is far worse off.”

Many people can agree that it is necessary for awareness about the conflict to be spread. People in America may not be as aware of current events as they could be.

“People need to grasp the facts and learn about both per-spectives,” Sarah said. “First they need to start caring and then drop their biases. People are blind towards the facts of issues everywhere, and they don’t know or care how much is going on around the world. They don’t think about it day to day.”

The media does not always portray the conflict realisti-cally. The United States media portrays the Gaza conflict with a bias towards Israel, while news from Arab nations portrays it with a bias towards Palestine.

“I read criticisms on how the United States portrays it,” Swiontek said. “The U.S. news doesn’t show the horrors of young people dying and families being torn apart that are a realistic part of war. Without that, war itself becomes unreal and it’s just too abstr act to comprehend.”

Because many people are only receiving biased news, they may have their opinions formed on incorrect information. The media may skew people’s perspectives.

“Hamas has grown stronger because the public opinion around the world has shown examples of Israeli destruction

on Gaza and has legitimized Hamas as a victim,” Swiontek said. “This has caused rallies for greater support in the Arab world and around the world for Palestine, and strengthened the ties between Hamas and Iran, which may become a more serious threat to Israeli security.”

Some people are conflicted about the fight, and do not wish for it to end negatively.

“As a Jewish individual I consider Israel my homeland,” John-son said. “I feel like what it does reflects on me and Jews every-where, and their mistreatment of Gaza makes me ashamed to sup-port Israel. Their actions are fodder for anti-Semites everywhere, anti-Semites eager for evidence that Jews are vile creatures. The last thing the Jewish people need is another reason to be hated.”

Some still manage to hope for a better future, and want to take steps to achieve it.

“I think people here need to pay more attention to issues like this and others around the globe where there is mass killing—places like Palestine and Darfur—lots of terrible things are hap-pening around the globe,” Sam Thalji ’09, who has relatives in Palestine, said. “I think if people voiced their opinions about it, more people will. We can make a difference.”

*Name has been changed at student’s request

MCT Campus

International tensions heighten in Middle East, conflict escalates to missile attacks

A Palestinian boy holds gun shell casings last month in Gaza City.

Page 19.indd 1 2/17/2009 7:27:42 PM

GET OUTFriday, February 20, 2009 Page 20

Weekend Entertainment Events Calendar

AroundTown

Katie’s Final Cut

Rental Review:Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (PG-13)

Marney’s Musical Madness

Marney ColemanKatie Bates

In-Theater Review:He’s Just Not That Into You (PG-13)

Theater entertains, feeds patronsHollywood Blvd. offers dinner, movie combo

An imposing tower greets those who arrive at Hollywood Boule-vard Theater (above). One of the theatres is set up before guests arrive. The chairs are not anchored into the floor, allowing mov-iegoers to whirl around as they please. Menus are placed on the counter in front of the chairs so that patrons can decide on their meals once they are seated (below).

by Tom O’Brien

Tom Meyer

Friday Saturday Sunday

Album: The FrayArtist: The Fray

Album: Merriweather Post PavilionArtist: Animal Collective

/out of five Paw Prints /out of five Paw Prints

Performance update:Annie Get Your Gun

7:30 p.m. NC Reber Center, Feb. 19-213 p.m. NC Reber Center, Feb. 22

Directed by: Eugene O’ReillyWritten by Irving Berlin, this musical is a fictional account of the life of western

sharpshooter Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler.

Flurries High: 29Low: 19

FlurriesHigh: 25Low: 15

Partly CloudyHigh: 27Low: 19

Weekend weather:

Please recycle your copy of the LION 708/579-6016 100 S. Brainard, LaGrange Ill. 60525

At a simple glance of Internet Movie Database page for “He’s Just Not That Into You,” the A-List roster is astound-ing: Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jen-nifer Aniston, and Scarlett Johansson are just a few. Name-dropping aside, “He’s Just Not That Into You” is a quality romantic/tragedy.

The film, based on the 2004 novel by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, tells the stories of several men and women and their unique relationships with different facets and levels of love. Viewpoints that usually come across as inexcusable are given a somewhat plausible light.

While the documenting of these faults turns the movie into a tragedy, comedic relief is never too far away. The fact that most people will probably find them-selves in such situations presented by the movie throughout their own life makes “He’s Just Not That Into You” a realisti-cally hysterical view.

However, efforts to make the scenes exceed being merely “funny” are some-times apparent. But, of course, the movie ends with each character in a state of positive resolution, giving hope to even the most hopeless of romantics every-where.

Bottom Line: “He’s Just Not That Into You” is a relatable and witty por-trayal of the miscommunications of love, dating and marriage that cause upheaval between women and men alike.

/out of five Paw Prints

OscarNominees

Source: Oscar.com

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Don’t have enough money to go see a new film? Try renting one of these Academy Award nominees once they come out on DVD.

Americans have developed many pas-times in the past 200-plus years. Baseball is great entertainment and fantasy foot-ball provides a good rush of adrenaline, but there are two things we Americans have learned to do in excess better than anyone else. We sit and we eat.

The problem is that not many com-mercial outlets cater to both of those benefits, which is what makes Holly-wood Boulevard Theater in Woodridge such a splendid experience.

As you enter the theater, there is no lobby for snacks or any of the typi-cal movie fix-ins, just a waiting room crammed to maximum capacity with other moviegoers and extravagant art-work shipped from around the world.

Once in one of the theatres, which are decorated in various Hollywood or famous theatre themes – ranging from Green Room to Casablanca – the experi-ence dramatically changes from an aver-age movie showing.

After sitting in a cozy office chair, a menu will be placed on the desk in front of one’s seat. Just before the movie starts, a waiter will come and ask for the patrons’ orders. The menu is what one would expect from a typical American-style restaurant, with the only twist being movie-themed names. Offerings include the Arnold Schwarzenburger and the Jurassic Pizza. Dessert is offered, and includes choices such as the Califor-nia Dream’n Cheesecake and the Ras-cally Wabbit Carrot Cake.

“The Chuck Norris Chicken [a Buf-

falo chicken sandwich] was like a round-house kick to the taste buds!” moviegoer Kevin Urbain ’10 said.

And although one would expect ludi-crous prices on such large portions of food from a movie theater, most of the main courses range from a moderate $6 to $12. One can expect a check of around $15 or $20, which turns out to be a good deal for the stellar dining.

However, not all trips to the Hollywood Boulevard will have completely happy end-ings, because there are a few setbacks that will likely strike a nerve in the purest of movie connoisseurs. Even though tickets run at a moderate $8 for adults, one must be accompanied by an adult at most matinees and all evening shows. Many screenings do not even allow minors in on their first weekends, regardless of rating.

Secondly, several dis-tractions take away atten-tion from the feature film. Throughout the screening, waiters discreetly roam the aisles, occasionally cut-ting the paying customer off from the film. The theatre can also not reach complete darkness, seeing as many people would oth-erwise leave with messy stains covering their attire. This sometimes makes distinguishing characters and events in the darker scenes a difficult undertak-ing. When going to Hollywood Boulevard, consider seeing a movie that you would otherwise consider a second or third choice (such as Underworld: Rise of the Lycans), and save watching the Oscar winners for a more conventional theatre.

There is a certain mystery that surrounds Animal Collective; the myriad of sounds that comprise the band’s music ranges from musi-cal samplings to obscure noises that sound completely foreign to human ears. It is this collage of sounds that draws in listeners and leaves them captivated.

Animal Collective’s innovation with sound and composition within a single album is what truly makes “Merriweather Post Pavilion” remarkable. Variety is the magic word here: songs range from the slow and contemplative “Bluish” to the manic, opti-mistic “Brother Sport.”

With the release of “Merriweather” the members of Animal Collective have struck the perfect balance between the strong musi-cal characters of the band: David Portner’s intense yelling, Noah Lennox’s mellow crooning and Brian Weitz’s affinity for production. This harmony among members allows for a better flow of the songs through-out the album, with elements from each member present in each track.

In addition to better flow overall, “Mer-riweather” is by far the group’s most acces-sible album to date. Gone are the days of intense walls of noise and lengthy songs; on the newest release the group utilizes acoustic techniques, such as the piano on “No More Runnin,” in addition to its trademark experi-mentation with sound.

Bottom Line: Animal Collective’e eclectic assortment of sound and genres within cre-ates a unique listening experience, appealing to a wide variety of listeners.

When I first listened to The Fray’s newest, self-titled album, I literally had to stop halfway into the first song to make sure I was not accidentally listening to the band’s first album, “How to Save a Life.”

This is the double-edged sword of the newest release from The Fray: for veteran fans, it will be warmly welcomed as virtu-ally a continuation of its first release, but those who wanted a little something more from The Fray – a little risk-taking, a little experimentation – will be disappointed.

This is in no way saying that “The Fray” is a sophomore slump. The band executes power piano pop better than most bands today. For example the first single, “You Found Me,” is laden with a heavy piano melody, which dominates the majority of the song. Front man Isaac Slade’s raspy-yet-mellow voice is still distinguishable and gives the band a certain unique quality among other bands of the genre.

One exception to the stylistic monotony of songs is “Say When,” which finds the band veering slightly into a harsher rock sound. Drums find a heavier hand in this composition; however, the song hardly qualifies as hard rock and seems like a kitten when compared to other songs of that genre.

Bottom Line: With regards to new musical styles and experimentation, the new album by The Fray is a disappoint-ment, but fans of “How to Save a Life” and mellow ballads in general will enjoy the brand of piano-driven songs.

Feb. 21: Gypsy Kings, Chi-cago Theatre, 8 p.m.

Feb. 22: Emerald City The-atre Company: Cinderella, Apollo Theater, 1 p.m.

Feb. 25: Jersey Boys, Bank of America Theatre, 2 p.m.

Feb. 26: Chicago the Musi-cal, Ford Center for the Performing Arts, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 27: MacBeth, League of Chicago Theatres, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 28: Historic Skyscrap-ers, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 10 a.m.

March 1: Blue Man Group, Briar Street Theatre, 1 p.m.

March 2: Sara Bareilles, Schubas, 7 p.m.

March 3: Chicago Black-hawks vs. Anaheim Ducks, United Center, 7:30 p.m.

March 4: Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles, Auditorium Theatre, 7:30 p.m.

March 5: Busta Rhymes, House of Blues, 7:30 p.m.

March 6: Dave Barnes, Subterranean, 8 p.m.

March 7: Emerald City The-atre Company: Dr. Dolittle, Apollo Theatre, 10:30 a.m.

March 8: Million Dollar Quartet, Apollo Theater, 3:30 p.m.

March 10: Mary Poppins, Cadillac Palace, 7:30 p.m.

The girls of the first “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movie are re-united for a sequel based on Anne Brashares’ original novels. The four girls relate to a wide scope of teenage females, and the film holds to the established “feel-good” quality the novels capture so well.

Four best friends (Bridget, Carmen, Lena and Tibby) find a pair of old blue jeans that miraculously fit their differ-ent body types perfectly. Realizing the rarity of the situation, the girls agree to send the pants to each other throughout the summer. Now in college, the girls venture on new and exciting journeys alone. While the acting quality of the stars has improved since the last “Sister-hood,” the film seems to have one flaw.

The movie covers the second, third and fourth novels, causing major confu-sion and hurriedness in the storyline The plot leaves out major events that add to character development, such as Bridget’s summer-long stay at her grandmother’s house and the full extent of Lena’s relationship with her artistic muse, Leo. While the sequel is satisfying to many, to a follower of the books, the film’s content is barren and unfinished.

Bottom Line: While “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” continues the endearing tale of four teenage girls, the compiled interpretation of three books in the series only glazes over the story’s events.

/out of five Paw Prints

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